John Irving
John Irving
John Winslow Irving is an American novelist and Academy Award-winning screenwriter...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth2 March 1942
CountryUnited States of America
people abortion catholic
I have no respect for the right-to-life position. But when you legislate personal belief, you're in violation of freedom of religion. The Catholic Church may espouse its opinion on abortion to the members of its congregation. But they are in violation of separation of church and state when they try to proselytize their abortion politics on people who are not Catholics.
children expectations attention
She felt detached from her family, and thought it strange how they had lavished so much attention on her, as a child, and then at some appointed, prearranged time they seemed to stop the flow of affection and being the expectations - as if, for a brief phrase, you were expected to absorb love (and get enough), and then, for a much longer and more serious phase, you were expected to fulfill certain obligations.
writing novel
I'm a very old-fashioned novelist. I write 19th-century novels, where a lot of rules apply.
process finished ifs
If you presume to love something, you must love the process of it much more than you love the finished product.
thinking skins actors
I have pretty thick skin, and I think if you're going to be in this business, if you're going to be an actor or a writer, you better have a thick skin.
responsibility faults owen-meany
It is your responsibility to find fault with me, it is mine to hear you out. But don't expect me to change.
silly emotional style
I am not attracted to writers by style. What style do Dickens, Grass, and Vonnegut have in common? How silly! I am attracted to what makes them angry, what makes them passionate, what outrages them, what they applaud and find sympathetic in human beings and what they detest about human beings, too. They are writers of great emotional range.
psychology obsession obsessed
You've got to get obsessed and stay obsessed.
philosophy remember owen-meany
Imagining something is better than remembering something.
writing crafts architecture
The building of the architecture of a novel - the craft of it - is something I never tire of.
writing giving cooking
If you are careful,' Garp wrote, 'if you use good ingredients, and you don't take any shortcuts, then you can usually cook something very good. Sometimes it is the only worthwhile product you can salvage from a day; what you make to eat. With writing, I find, you can have all the right ingredients, give plenty of time and care, and still get nothing. Also true of love. Cooking, therefore, can keep a person who tries hard sane.
believe i-believe behavior
I believe in rules of behavior, and I'm quite interested in stories about the consequences of breaking those rules.
reading light hands
Homer and Candy passed by the empty and brightly lit dispensary; they peeked into Nurse Angela's empty office. Homer knew better than to peek into the delivery room when the light was on. From the dormitory, they could hear Dr. Larch's reading voice. Although Candy held tightly to his hand, Homer was inclined to hurry - in order not to miss the bedtime story.
art hard-work serious
It is hard work and great art to make life not so serious.