Interview with Hilary Mantel

A surprisingly good, detailed and in depth interview with Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies.  Though it is A Place of Greater Safety which I remember most fondly - it is one of my all time favourite novels, though I did not know was her first effort (though not first published) until reading this interview.

Originally published in The New Statesman.

“Also, it taught me what I’ve long suspected: that public opinion is not something that features very highly in my life. Nobody should go into a trade like writing expecting applause, or universal approval, or even popularity. What appals me is that people mistake this constant storm of trivial abuse for some kind of freedom. ‘Me, speaking my mind!’ ” Her tone is boldly dismissive. “It’s not. It’s actually a huge distraction of the bread and circuses variety. To a large extent proper civic engagement, community engagement, proper political debate and activism, has been replaced by this. By illogic. By platitudes. And actually a lot of it is just abuse and bullying. There’s a nasty, narrow little conformism. And people are afraid, quite understandably, to differ from the norm. I think it’s a very sad state of affairs.”