– Ms. Bachmann, you are a German-speaking writer living in Rome, that is to say surrounded by a foreign language. Doesn't it influence your literary work not to be speaking the language in which you write, and not even to have the language around you?

– […] No, that has absolutely no influence on my writing, nor does it bother me […] Granted, the people here are not any better than anywhere else, but after five minutes on the street the slight hint of impending insanity, the urge to give it all up for good, are suddenly averted. Granted, the people are a bit better looking and very friendly, but we all know what lies behind that. But do we really know what lies behind that? We don't know anything at all. For me, it's enough that the people aren't unfriendly, they're friendlier.

Ingeborg Bachmann, cited interview