Antonio Tabucchi

As a writer, I've always been interested in others. ”

Literature is my life of course, but from an ontological point of view. From an existential point of view, I like being a teacher. ”

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. ”

People with lots of doubts sometimes find life more oppressive and exhausting than others, but they're more energetic - they aren't robots. ”

I don't go for people who lead full and satisfying lives. ”

No, I'm happy to go on living the life I've chosen. I'm a university teacher and I like my job. ”

Literature for me isn't a workaday job, but something which involves desires, dreams and fantasy. ”

Eco sees the intellectual as an organizer of culture, someone who can run a magazine or a museum. An administrator, in fact. I think this is a melancholy situation for an intellectual. ”

There are some fundamental values it's impossible to be wrong about. ”

I don't know whether these people are going to find themselves, but as they live their lives they have no choice but to face up to the image others have of them. They're forced to look at themselves in a mirror, and they often manage to glimpse something of themselves. ”