James Joyce - an essentially private man who wished his total indifference to public notice to be universally recognized.

I am a man, and nothing that concerns a man do I deem a matter of indifference to me

In the end, my children put me on to Pink Floyd when they were teenagers.

Pink Floyd are one of a handful of bands I've listened to a lot and whose concerts I've been to. I love the experience. I don't dance; I just jig up and down like everybody else.

When I was younger, I could do something useful just by being free for half a day, but now I need five days to get the world I've left out of my head and ten days or a fortnight not talking to anyone to hold what I need to hold inside my head.

You do know what's coming up when you're translating. I suppose the concentration, then, is on finding a formulation which is speakable and in character - and economical as well, actually.