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
five lived people
I lived five years in the Midwest, and I loved it. The people were so nice. The people were so open.
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?
philosophical wrestling athlete
Ted Seabrooke, my wrestling coach, had a kind of Nietzschean effect on me in terms of not just his estimation of my limited abilities, but his decidedly philosophical stance about how to conduct your life, what you should do to compensate for your limitations. This was essential to me, both as a student - and not a good one - and as a wrestler who was not a natural athlete but who had found something he loved.
belief freedom-of-religion
When you legislate personal belief, you're in violation of freedom of religion.
boys labels categories
My dear boy, please don’t put a label on me—don’t make me a category before you get to know me!
school study
What was even more germane was my study of the history of religion. It was one of the few things in school I was fascinated by.
world doe this-world
The more clearly one sees this world; the more one is obliged to pretend it does not exist.
community good-man manners
I was brought up in a community, in a family that valued such things as good manners, and I still do.
character interest situation
I begin with an interest in a relationship, a situation, a character.
book people film
I have no respect for the right-to-life position, though I have every respect for an individual who says, "I could never have that procedure, I could never see a film or read a book about that procedure." It doesn't bother me if people feel that way.
children believe church
I still believe in getting married in churches and baptizing children. I go through those motions.
baseball song thinking
I thought some of the stories were neat; I liked some of the liturgy and some of the songs. If you're a writer you have some inclination to pay attention. I didn't just tune it out and think about baseball. So, it had an effect on me.
writing novel
I'm a very old-fashioned novelist. I write 19th-century novels, where a lot of rules apply.