'A fascinating, oblique entry into the mind of one whose own writings . . . are a brilliant questioning chronicle of contemporary culture and values'

Nadine Gordimer

'This fascinating collection of interviews beautifully manifests these paradoxical self-positionings and deep ambiguities, and in the process offers a portrait - all the more striking for being so unselfconsciously self-conscious - of a vitally interesting individual'

A.C. Grayling, Independent on Sunday

'Lucid, passionate ... forthright honesty and steely lucidity'

Terry Eagleton, New Statesman

'This collection serves as a kind of intellectual biography: reading interviews is reading a man's life through the people who ask questions. It is difficult to think of any other literary official who would be worth the treatment'

Scotsman