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Like most people of my generation, I fell in love with the philosophy of existentialism.

I believe that we are all, openly or secretly, struggling against one or another kind of nihilism.

I don't think I can write a book as nihilistic as some of my early ones. They're so bleak. I don't think I would enjoy that as much anymore. You really become fixated on ways out.

Famously, there's not really anywhere to go after nihilism. It's not progressing toward anything, it's a statement of outrage, however brilliant.

Works of art produced in the contemporary world are a further expression of that. But I don't think there is an active, ongoing nihilist self-consciousness in the artist.

Ultimately, because I'm an artist, I can't ever consider myself a nihilist, so I suppose I'm optimistic.

I read Nietzsche when I was a teenager and then I went back to reading him when I was in my thirties, and his voice spoke directly to me. Nietzsche is such a superb literary artist.

Existentialism is about being a saint without God; being your own hero, without all the sanction and support of religion or society.