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
kids
I never wanted my kids to feel I was more interested in anything I was doing than I was in them.
adult event family principal
The principal event of my childhood was that no adult in my family would tell me who my father was.
almost attraction england extinct novelist novels victorian
My first attraction to writing novels was the plot, that almost extinct animal. Those novels I read which made me want to be a novelist were long, always plotted, novels - not just Victorian novels, but also those of my New England ancestors: Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne.
accidents believe clear explore mapped mere necessary novel recognize route
I believe you have constructive accidents en route through a novel only because you have mapped a clear way. If you have confidence that you have a clear direction to take, you always have confidence to explore other ways; if they prove to be mere digressions, you'll recognize that and make the necessary revisions.
five lived people
I lived five years in the Midwest, and I loved it. The people were so nice. The people were so open.
empty humbling novel page time written
One of the humbling things about having written more than one novel is the sense that every time you begin, that new empty page does not know who you are.
imagined novels proudest suppose
I suppose I'm proudest of my novels for what's imagined in them,
existed orphanages orphans
Do you really want to go back to those times when orphanages existed and when many orphans were not adopted?
coincidence young novel
He was too young to know that, in any novel with a reasonable amount of forethought, there were no coincidences.
losing-control feels humiliating
If you don't feel that you are possibly on the edge of humiliating yourself, of losing control of the whole thing, then probably what you are doing isn't very vital.
psychology obsession obsessed
You've got to get obsessed and stay obsessed.
generosity habit good-habits
Good habits are worth being fanatical about.
dumb monkeys voters
THERE'S NO MONKEY BUSINESS ABOUT THIS ELECTION,' he told the voters. 'IF YOU'RE ENOUGH OF AN ASSHOLE TO VOTE FOR NIXON, YOUR DUMB VOTE WILL BE COUNTED––JUST LIKE ANYBODY ELSE!
inferiors
Being reviewed is being condescended to by your inferiors.