American - Novelist | March 18, 1932 - January 27, 2009
John Barth, I think, was really a writer of my own age and somewhat of my own temperament, although his books are very different from mine, and he has been a spokesman for the very ambitious, long, rather academic novel. But I don't think that what he is saying, so far as I understand it, is so very different from what I'm saying.
John Updike
AgeSayingThinkLongUnderstand
It is in middles that extremes clash, where ambiguity restlessly rules.
RulesWhereAmbiguityExtremesClash
Writing makes you more human.
WritingYouMoreHumanMakes
We are drawn to artists who tell us that art is difficult to do and takes a spiritual effort, because we are still puritan enough to respect a strenuous spiritual effort.
RespectArtSpiritualEffortEnough
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.
LifeThinkArtistSkillsWantOnly
It is not an aesthetic misstep to make the viewer aware of the paint and the painter's hand. Such an empathetic awareness lies at the heart of aesthetic appreciation.
HeartAppreciationAestheticHand
Humor is my default mode.
HumorModeDefault
Toni Morrison has a habit, perhaps traceable to the pernicious influence of William Faulkner, of plunging into the narrative before the reader has a clue to what is going on.
HabitInfluenceNarrativeGoingClue
My wife and I had children when we were children ourselves.
ChildrenWifeOurselvesWereHad
The miracle of turning inklings into thoughts and thoughts into words and words into metal and print and ink never palls for me.
WordsMeThoughtsNeverMiracleInk
I would write ads for deodorants or labels for catsup bottles if I had to.
WriteWouldLabelsBottlesAdsHad
I don't write about too many male businessmen, and I'm not apt to write about too many female businessmen.
WriteManyFemaleBusinessmenAbout
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