He tells me that the vision of life that’s in my work is not real; it’s much less bad, dark, mischievous, painful etc than real life. It holds out some belief in the essential goodness of people. It is a picture of the way I’d like life to be rather than the way it really is.

‘I’m afraid your pessimism will contaminate me,’ I say.

‘If you believe in good, why are you afraid that bad will contaminate you?’

It’s like arguing with the devil.