Renowned writer John Banville says all of his novels have been failures
John Banville is widely considered one of the greatest living writers in English. He has won many awards, including the Booker Prize for his 2005 novel, "The Sea". Michael met Banville in Dublin to talk about his latest novel — his 17th — "The Blue Guitar".
If John Banville offers anything to his readers, it's the pleasure of the perfectly chosen word, and the thrill of exquisitely turned phrases and sentences.
Banville is widely considered one of the greatest living writers in English. He won the Booker Prize for his 2005 novel, The Sea, and literary critics think a Nobel Prize for Literature could well be added to his list of honours before too long. Despite all of those accolades, Banville says all of his novels — so far — have been failures.
"Somebody once asked Iris Murdoch, why did she write so many books? And she said, well, I keep thinking that each one will exonerate me from all the ones that have gone before. And that's exactly how I feel. The next one is going to be the great masterpiece. The world will stand in awe of the next one. I know that it will be another botched book, but somehow, in another part of my mind, I think, no, no, it's going to be a great masterpiece.- John Banville
Michael met John Banville in Dublin in March for a conversation about his latest novel The Blue Guitar, the importance of language, and the erotic experiences of stealing and making art.
Every man is a man in trouble. Women, it seems to me, have it figured out. My sons still have that confused little wrinkle in the middle of their forehead: "Will someone please explain why did my mother leave, why did she stop loving me?" Girls get to the age of 8, 9, 10, and you see them looking around and saying, "Oh yeah, I see how this works." That's one of the reasons I love women. They seem to know what they're doing. Men haven't a clue. We're stumbling around making fools of ourselves.- John Banville