John Banville: Live all you can  - you’ve no idea how quickly it goes

The Irish novelist and short story writer on his guiltiest pleasures and dream dinner party guests

Wexford-born John Banville is a philosophical novelist concerned with the nature of perception, the conflict between imagination and reality, and how we navigate the world as individuals.

John Banville grew up reading bestselling British detective novelists Agatha Christie and Margery Allingham. He welcomes the recent rise of female Irish crime writers, seeing them as “women standing up and taking their rightful place at the table”.

It’s a rainy afternoon and the 77-year-old is talking to me from his study in Howth where he’s just finished writing his next novel, “about a serial killer that can’t be stopped.”

Regarded as the most stylistically elaborate Irish writer of his generation, Wexford-born John Banville is a philosophical novelist concerned with the nature of perception, the conflict between imagination and reality, and how we navigate the world as individuals.

More recently, Banville’s propelling and tightly-plotted crime novels have won him a brand new audience. His latest novel The Lock Up has also been shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards in the best crime novel category.

“ The Guardian said I’d gentrified the crime novel. But I disagree,” Banville says. “It’s long been gentrified by many great writers.”

How do you keep fit?

Sitting at my desk seven days a week working, and then sitting down and having a glass of fine wine with dinner in the evenings.

Do you have a morning routine?

I’m terrible in the mornings. I can think, but I can hardly tie my shoelaces. I start work at 9.30 but only really get going around midday. I used to have a studio in town in Bachelor’s Walk. But now I work at home in my study in Howth.

What’s the one thing you do every day?

Work. I used to work eight to ten hours a day. Now that I’m old, I can’t do more than around four to six hours. The rest of the time I read. I’m a creature of the book.

What are your healthiest eating habits?

I don’t eat meat and I don’t eat gluten. I don’t like eating animals, but I do eat fish so I can’t claim any moral high ground there.

Guiltiest pleasures?

Chocolate — Lindt chocolate. I have it every day. I’m on the jury of the Nonino Prize run by an Italian family who makes grappa in north Venice.

They send me bags of Lindt liqueurs with grappa every now and then. To be honest, I can’t eat more than three and drive.

What keeps you awake at night?

Fear of death. I’m like Woodie Allen, I don’t mind dying, I just wish I wasn’t there when it happens. Take my advice, live all you can because you’ve no idea how quickly it goes between the ages of 40 and 70.

What’s your favourite smell?

Lilac on a spring evening. It reminds me of childhood - it’s all of happiness and all of romance. It’s all the beauty in the world.

When was the last time you cried?

I last wept real tears in 2019, after learning that a call from Stockholm telling me I had won the Nobel Prize was a hoax. They were tears of laughter.

What’s the best health advice you’ve ever received?

Leave yourself alone. Don’t go on diets, don’t do yoga. Nature’s way is self-sustaining. When we get sick, we get sick. When we die, we die.

What traits do you least like in others?

Meanness of spirit.

What traits do you least like about yourself?

Meanness of spirit.

Do you pray?

No. To whom would I pray?

What cheers you up if you are having a bad day?

I’m never without chocolate.

Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?

William James, the philosopher and Lucrezia Borgia (an infamous member of the powerful Italian Borgia clan) I think they would both be wildly entertaining. Think of the stories they’d have to tell.

Has climate change impacted how you live your life?

Not at all, unfortunately. I fear for my children’s children. It’s also something that keeps me awake at night.

What quote inspires you most?

Franz Kafka: ‘The artist is the one who has nothing to say.’ I like it because it’s true.

Where is your favourite place world?

My study, surrounded by other people’s books. Outside of the house, my favourite place is Lucca, in Italy.

• John Banville will be in conversation with Andrea Carter at the Leaves Festival of Writing and Music, Portlaoise on Saturday, November 11 leavesfestival.ie