A. S. Byatt
A. S. Byatt
Dame Antonia Susan Duffy DBE– known as A. S. Byatt – is an English novelist, poet and Booker Prize winner. In 2008, The Times newspaper named her on its list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth24 August 1936
stupid profound trying
I am a profound pessimist both about life and about human relations and about politics and ecology. Humans are inadequate and stupid creatures who sooner or later make a mess, and those who are trying to do good do a lot more damage than those who are muddling along.
writing ants literature
I don't only write about English literature; I also write about chaos theory and... ants. I can understand ants.
writing thinking venus
I don't think it is an easy thing to write and expect to be commercial, even if you are from Venus and a hermaphrodite.
writing novelists hated
I hated being a novelist when I was 20 - I had nothing to write about.
writing poison terrible
It's a terrible poison, writing.
self moral-beliefs looks
I'm not very interested in myself. I do have a deep moral belief that you should always look out at other things and not be self-centred.
art thinking important
I think there are a lot more important things than art in the world. But not to me.
feelings mind way
I like feeling my way into different minds and experiences. It comes naturally and always has.
writing research pieces
I did a lot of my writing as though I was an academic, doing some piece of research as perfectly as possible.
novelists academic written
I am not an academic who happens to have written a novel. I am a novelist who happens to be quite good academically.
hate thinking curiosity
I think the virtue I prize above all others is curiosity. If you look really hard at almost anybody, and try to see why they're doing what they're doing, taking a dig at them ceases to be what you want to do even if you hate them.
children
I was no good at being a child.
running reality world
Louis de Bernires is in the direct line that runs through Dickens and Evelyn Waugh. . .he has only to look into his world, one senses, for it to rush into reality, colours and touch and taste.
narrative
Narrative is one of the best intoxicants or tranquilisers.