Claire Messud on A Dream Life, self-deception and the pursuit of truth

Featuring: writing as a strange quixotic thing; how Claire was first published; her grandfather's memoir; Claire's childhood years in Sydney ‘the light, the air, the birds’; writing A Dream Life in The American Library in Paris; when fantasy keeps us alive and when it becomes something pernicious; on writing complex, alive characters; literary and familial influences; writing about adolescence; what Claire’s working on now; memories of Robert Silvers. With two readings. ‘I’m always very interested in deception and self-deception, this is a life-long thing.’ ‘Fiction like life is a balance between freedom and constraint, and you do need some constraints.’ ‘For the most part my work has not been autobiographical, or only elements have. It’s almost like a coat hanger, from which you make papier maché.’ ‘If something’s too close to life then I don’t feel free.’ ‘One has a different self in each language.’