Xenophobia manifests itself especially against civilizations and cultures that are weak because they lack economic resources, means of subsistence or land. So nomadic people are the first targets of this kind of aggression.- Antonio Tabucchi
When you have a foreign invasion - in this case by the Indonesian army - writers, intellectuals, newspapers and magazines are the first targets of repression.
We all want to be someone else but without ceasing to be ourselves. I think it's very important to defend this idea in real life too.
There are some fundamental values it's impossible to be wrong about.
The salt of any interesting civilization is mixture.
The most important basis of any novel is wanting to be someone else, and this means creating a character.
Perfection spawns doctrines, dictators and totalitarian ideas.
People with lots of doubts sometimes find life more oppressive and exhausting than others, but they're more energetic - they aren't robots.
No, I am happy to go on living the life I have chosen. I am a university teacher and I like my job.
My job is to look at what politics is doing, not be a politician myself.
My books are about losers, about people who've lost their way and are engaged in a search.
Literature is my life of course, but from an ontological point of view. From an existential point of view, I like being a teacher.
Literature for me is not a workaday job, but something which involves desires, dreams and fantasy.
It's very useful when politicians have doubts because there are so many choices to be made in the world.
It's the job of intellectuals and writers to cast doubt on perfection.
