John Updike
John Updike
John Hoyer Updikewas an American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth18 March 1932
CountryUnited States of America
attempt beyond books honest inevitably life models record trying
My attempt has been really to, beyond making a record of contemporary life, which is what you inevitably do, is trying to make beautiful books - books that are in some way beautiful, that are models of how to use the language, models of honest feeling, models of care.
beauty christian cinema everywhere filled ideas life losing myths religion retreating spiritual success supports vacuum whereas
The cinema has done more for my spiritual life than the church. My ideas of fame, success and beauty all originate from the big screen. Whereas Christian religion is retreating everywhere and losing more and more influence; film has filled the vacuum and supports us with myths and action-controlling images.
almost animated family life movies needed pictures provide seemed
I was an only child. I needed an alternative to family life - to real life, you could almost say - and cartoons, pictures in a book, the animated movies, seemed to provide it.
life
My life is, in a sense, trash. My life is only that of which the residue is my writing.
faith gloomy life witness
I don't know; I think I'd be gloomy without some faith that there is a purpose and there is a kind of witness to my life.
artistic brain concept enter explicit good honest life living reading short silence since social somebody taste willing words writer
I think ''taste'' is a social concept and not an artistic one. I'm willing to show good taste, if I can, in somebody else's living room, but our reading life is too short for a writer to be in any way polite. Since his words enter into another's brain in silence and intimacy, he should be as honest and explicit as we are with ourselves.
certain devoted life merely perfecting
We don't really want to think that the artist is only very skilled, that he has merely devoted his life to perfecting a certain set of intelligible skills.
amount answering becomes certain deal desk full great letter life matters though work
There is a great deal of busywork to a writer's life, as to a professor's life, a great deal of work that matters only in that, if you don't do it, your desk becomes very full of papers. So, there is a lot of letter answering and a certain amount of speaking, though I try to keep that at a minimum.
life firsts grownups
Life, just as we first thought, is playing grownup.
life games matter
Life is a video game. No matter how good you get, you are always zapped in the end.
life fall roller-coaster
Life is a roller coaster, you have your ups and downs unless you fall off.
life water razors
Life is a razor, you are always in hot water or a scrape.
life years self
As I get older, my childhood self becomes more accessible to me, but selectively, in images as stylized and suspect as moments remembered from a novel read years ago.
time love-life stuff
Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of. Suspect each moment, for it is a thief, tiptoeing away with more than it brings.