Jonathan Coe Quotes

You would go mad if you began to speculate about the impact your novel might have while you were still writing it.

They were written in the early ’90s when I was strapped for cash.

The writer I feel the most affinity with – you said you felt my books are 19th century novels, I think they’re 18th century novels – is Fielding, Henry Fielding, he’s the guy who does it for me.

The more melancholy side of my literary personality is much in tune with BS Johnson’s.

The biggest markets for my books outside the UK are France and Italy, and those are the two countries where I also have the closest personal relationships with my translators – I don’t know whether that’s a coincidence, or if there’s something to be learned from it.