Julian Barnes

And they say it probably won't reduce my life expectancy, but who knows.

She was indeed.

Well, I often write hybrid books.

This is a hybrid.

It's not a term that publishers like.

They like to have something that says fiction or nonfiction.

No, it's a problem for booksellers as well.

Once a publisher asked me how I would describe my book.

And I just said, well, it's Julian Barnes' new book.

In a rather irritated way.

Yes, and quite a few of them are actually hybrid, which mix autobiography, fiction, nonfiction, art criticism, whatever is relevant to my thinking about the book.

So I've always been quite relaxed about this, but I know that it does annoy some people.

And indeed –

My – the character Julian Barnes is attacked at one point by one of the participants in this love affair and who he hasn't met for 40 years or so.

And she says, I don't like this hybrid stuff you do.

I think you should stick to one thing or another.

And it was rather enjoyable to have a character rebuking me for the book that I was writing.

I sort of enjoyed that.

And I get cross with her and I say, well, you may like or not like one of my books, but I want you to know that I know exactly what I'm doing when I'm writing.

Which is actually – I have heard another writer use more or less those words.