Every moment in such circumstances means something. As we try to understand, we find ourselves in the vicinity of both message and inspiration. I thought, of course, about the manuscripts I was working on before the hand of destiny started to drag me from the hospital ward to the operating theater and back again. I saw in those things nothing but sorrow, because I would have to part from them with such difficulty. There is no deceit or surprise at such moments. The picture of life is clear. At least, it was in my case. You don’t learn anything that you didn’t know already: you just become aware of it in a different way; if “awareness” is the right word.

There are writers who do their research and who achieve self-knowledge in a world that is familiar to them, in terms of their own style or in the context of one of the literary “isms”. Those who mechanically or opportunistically follow the “isms” belong to the most crowded field in the arts – mannerism.
Since I was young, I’ve always thought in pictures when I write. I continue to believe that a literary picture – for example, a picture of a remembered event – can contain within it an entire philosophy, an entire view of the cosmos. Conveying how this event is seen may be a precious literary moment, something that connects us with the very roots of spirituality.

It’s paradoxical that since I began to live with the awareness of being a writer, and that’s really a long time now, I’ve always considered myself a bit slow, even a bit lazy. However, the fact of the matter is that in time a good number of books have come along. Inspiration has always been there: it’s like a flash that illuminates something that we’re already dealing with, a glint of light that reveals a picture of things that is different from what we saw up until then. In that glimpse very often lies the resolution of the plot or perhaps a completely new story that we hadn’t been aware of – in which case the entrance of a new labyrinth opens up.

The manuscripts are well underway. Each of them is being written differently. None of my novels has been written in the same way. Only one of them was written the way it’s supposed to be read: from start to finish. I’m familiar, of course, with many techniques since my early writing days when I was trying to find my own voice, and I could probably have written even more books, especially novels (realizing some rich ideas within the rules of the genre, for example) but I didn’t want to do that. Because each novel is also an adventure. Every complex piece of writing reflects a life situation in which there are certain details that we only become aware of in the course of the drama of writing. These details are the key to the structure of life, to self-awareness and to authenticity. A good book is, as we know, a friend with whom we can have a regular conversation.
It’s possible to talk to books even when they’re still manuscripts. That is, in fact, what writing is. And that’s all I’m willing to say about my new novels! When they are published, they will speak for themselves!