I've always been fascinated by the operation of memory - the way in which it is not linear but fragmented, and its ambivalence.

Quote by Penelope Lively

Topics: Penelope Lively Quotes

I rather like getting away from fiction.

I rather like getting away from fiction.

It seems to me that everything that happens to us is a disconcerting mix of...

It seems to me that everything that happens to us is a disconcerting mix of...

The present hardly exists, after all-it becomes the past even as it happens. A tricky...

The present hardly exists, after all-it becomes the past even as it happens. A tricky...

The consideration of change over the century is about loss, though I think that social...

The consideration of change over the century is about loss, though I think that social...

I have long been interested in landscape history, and when younger and more robust I...

I have long been interested in landscape history, and when younger and more robust I...

I'm not an historian and I'm not wanting to write about how I perceive the...

I'm not an historian and I'm not wanting to write about how I perceive the...

I'm not an historian but I can get interested - obsessively interested - with any...

I'm not an historian but I can get interested - obsessively interested - with any...

I do like to embed a fictional character firmly in an occupation.

I do like to embed a fictional character firmly in an occupation.

There's a preoccupation with memory and the operation of memory and a rather rapacious interest...

There's a preoccupation with memory and the operation of memory and a rather rapacious interest...

Every novel generates its own climate, when you get going.

Every novel generates its own climate, when you get going.

Equally, we require a collective past - hence the endless reinterpretations of history, frequently to...

Equally, we require a collective past - hence the endless reinterpretations of history, frequently to...

We make choices but are constantly foiled by happenstance.

We make choices but are constantly foiled by happenstance.

The Photograph is concerned with the power that the past has to interfere with the...

The Photograph is concerned with the power that the past has to interfere with the...

Conventional forms of narrative allow for different points of view, but for this book I...

Conventional forms of narrative allow for different points of view, but for this book I...

I didn't want it to be a book that made pronouncements.

I didn't want it to be a book that made pronouncements.

You learn a lot, writing fiction.

You learn a lot, writing fiction.

I'm intrigued by the way in which physical appearance can often direct a person's life;...

I'm intrigued by the way in which physical appearance can often direct a person's life;...

Getting to know someone else involves curiosity about where they have come from, who they...

Getting to know someone else involves curiosity about where they have come from, who they...

It was a combination of an intense interest in children's literature, which I've always had,...

It was a combination of an intense interest in children's literature, which I've always had,...

Deep down I have this atavistic feeling that really I should be in the country.

Deep down I have this atavistic feeling that really I should be in the country.