I became quite taken over by Johnson's personality at some points while writing the biography, and since I went straight on to The Closed Circle afterwards, I did sometimes feel I could hear him whispering in my ear while I… — Jonathan Coe Copy Share Image
I was going to say 'my friend Stuart', but I suppose he's not a friend any more. I seem to have lost a number… — Jonathan Coe Copy Share Image
“The upshot was that she lost her religion - with a vengeance - and walked out on him, taking these three daughters with her.… — Jonathan Coe Copy Share Image
The plain fact is that she never really liked me, and never wanted me. I had been a mistake; and that, to some extent,… — Jonathan Coe Copy Share Image
“Yes, she would have been partial to men, perhaps she might even have confined herself to one man in particular, if only she had… — Jonathan Coe Copy Share Image
“You didn't take part, Benjamin?" Gunther asked, as he passed me a plate of cheese and cold meat. "My brother doesn't play games," said… — Jonathan Coe Copy Share Image
As soon as you start writing about how human beings interact with each other socially, you're into politics, aren't you? — Jonathan Coe Copy Share Image
I like the idea of a big caesura between the narratives, a space which readers can fill in with their own speculative history. — Jonathan Coe Copy Share Image
The more melancholy side of my literary personality is much in tune with BS Johnson's. — Jonathan Coe Copy Share Image
I had no sense of any reputation that What a Carve Up! might acquire - at the time I didnt even have a publisher,… — Jonathan Coe Copy Share Image
But at the same time, I have trouble keeping things out of books, which is why I don't write short stories because they turn… — Jonathan Coe Copy Share Image
