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[ Man ]
It is so difficult
to know where I should begin.
2
00:02:22,932 --> 00:02:28,199
Especially when, unlike you,
I already know the ending.
3
00:02:28,271 --> 00:02:32,207
But let us say that this story
began with the end of another,
4
00:02:32,275 --> 00:02:36,405
far, far from the surf
of Long Island.
5
00:02:38,447 --> 00:02:42,383
For many years, I had
absolutely no public life.
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00:02:42,451 --> 00:02:44,976
I had said, "No,"
to interviews so often,
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00:02:45,054 --> 00:02:48,717
it was widely
regarded as my forte.
8
00:02:48,791 --> 00:02:53,455
Then, just once--
on impulse-- I said,
9
00:02:53,529 --> 00:02:55,793
"Yes."
10
00:02:57,366 --> 00:03:00,130
Does the 20th century
play any part in your life?
11
00:03:00,202 --> 00:03:04,468
I'm sorry?
Do you, for instance,
use a word processor?
12
00:03:04,540 --> 00:03:08,271
I'm a writer. I write.
13
00:03:08,344 --> 00:03:10,642
I don't process words.
14
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[ Interviewer ]
So, who do you write for?
15
00:03:13,308 --> 00:03:16,141
Myself.
May I ask why
you're here today?
16
00:03:16,211 --> 00:03:18,145
Well, I was
wondering that myself.
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00:03:18,213 --> 00:03:23,241
But... your...
colleague was... a friend...
18
00:03:23,318 --> 00:03:25,912
of my late wife, who translated
for the World Service.
19
00:03:25,988 --> 00:03:30,687
And, of course, I do have
a faint interest as to how
these things are done, you know.
20
00:03:30,759 --> 00:03:33,284
You've never been
tempted to write for radio?
21
00:03:33,362 --> 00:03:36,456
Or television?
I'm afraid not.
22
00:03:36,531 --> 00:03:38,556
Would you permit your work
to be adapted for the screen,
23
00:03:38,634 --> 00:03:41,068
now that even
E.M. Forster's been done?
24
00:03:41,136 --> 00:03:43,536
Oh, I'd prefer
not to be done.
25
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[ Interviewer ]
...
