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Patrick McGrath: But it’s clearly not painful for you to sit down and write novels. Peter Ackroyd: How do you know? (laughter) PM: I assume so. PA: No, it’s absolute agony from morning to night. But I’m a martyr to it. I thought Imight as well be a martyr to fiction as anything else. PM: It’s altruistic then? PA: It’s altruistic. If I didn’t get a penny for it I’d still do it. PA: That’s right. I’m rather like a collector of other people’s trifles, other people’s bits and pieces. PM: A rag-and-bone man? PA: That’s it, I’m a rag-and-bone man—though not a rag-and-bone man of the heart! —BOMB 26, 1989

Patrick McGrath: But it’s clearly not painful for you to sit down and write novels.

Peter Ackroyd: How do you know? (laughter)

PM: I assume so.

PA: No, it’s absolute agony from morning to night. But I’m a martyr to it. I thought Imight as well be a martyr to fiction as anything else.

PM: It’s altruistic then?

PA: It’s altruistic. If I didn’t get a penny for it I’d still do it.

PA: That’s right. I’m rather like a collector of other people’s trifles, other people’s bits and pieces.

PM: A rag-and-bone man?

PA: That’s it, I’m a rag-and-bone man—though not a rag-and-bone man of the heart!

—BOMB 26, 1989

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