His last novel, the scathing, hilarious and universally acclaimed Mother's Milk, recently won the Prix Fémina Etranger, France's most prestigious literary award for foreign literature. Hence the interest. He sighs. "And then I went on the radio. France Culture. So intimidating: whenever I'd listened to it it'd been, you know, Susan Sontag talking about her production of Waiting for Godot while the bombs were falling on Sarajevo, or Malraux talking about Greek tragedy or Borges speaking in flawless French about Beowulf, and I thought, I just can't do this. I didn't sleep for three weeks, I thought they were going to ask me about Heidegger or something. And then finally they said, you know, Monsieur Saint-Aubyn" – his French, like his English, is beautifully enunciated – "Do you think you're in the tradition of PG Wodehouse?" He gives an exultant shout of laughter. "PG Wodehouse! Ha! Ask me about Heidegger!"

¶ 11:26 PM