The characters in ‘Be Near Me’ come from a genuine place, a Britain that is more than one country and more than one ideal. Andrew O'Hagan Read Quote
When I look back at my childhood on the Ayrshire coast, I recall a basic devotion to the idea that human nature and national character are as unknowable as the weather’s rationale. Andrew O'Hagan Read Quote
I’ve been asked which of the other arts novel-writing is most like, and I have come to believe it is acting. Of course, in terms of pattern it can be like music, in terms of structure it can be like painting, but the job to me is most like acting. Andrew O'Hagan Read Quote
The idea that people in novels should be more sympathetic than people in life simply baffles me. Andrew O'Hagan Read Quote
There’s a horrible fallacy that exists in the popular discussion of fiction these days: the idea that a successful central character need be ‘likeable’ or ‘sympathetic’. It is surely more important that they be human, no? More crucial that they breathe? Andrew O'Hagan Read Quote
When I was growing up, there was a feeling in one’s living room as much as in one’s local gallery that a little elitism was good for the soul. Andrew O'Hagan Read Quote
We now live in the era of fake consensus, or phoney populism, a condition in which galleries and homes are seen to succeed best where they manage feelings of non-difference. Andrew O'Hagan Read Quote
I was 10 when I realised I couldn’t stand football. I’d tried, obviously, before this – no one wants to give in to social pariah-hood without a fight. I had stood frozen on pitches, done some running about and shouted a lot, as though I cared. Andrew O'Hagan Read Quote
