India, April 26 -- In your novel, By the Sea, there's this fragment, "it seems as if one life has ended and I am now living another one". In the context of your Nobel win, does it seem like a new beginning?

No, it doesn't feel like a new life. It has obviously made a big difference in how much time I have to write or to do whatever other things I might wish to do. For me, the most important thing about the Nobel award was the recognition. Everybody knows about it - even people who don't read. But for a writer, it is something very definite. That is to say, your writing is okay. The prize is given once a year and even for just one year, to be told something like that is very reassuring.

In addition, there is, of course, the interest that...