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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 มิ.ย. 2024
- Big Think Interview with John Irving
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Big Think sits down with the author of twelve novels, including "Last Night in Twisted River."
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JOHN IRVING:
John Irving is the author of twelve books, including “The World According to Garp,” “A Prayer For Owen Meany,” and most recently, “Last Night on Twisted River.” Over his career he has won a National Book Award, an Academy Award for his adaptation of “The Cider House Rules,” and many other honors, and has been translated into over thirty languages. A former competitive wrestler, he splits his time between Vermont and Montreal.
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TRANSCRIPT:
John Irving: I'm John Irving and “Last Night In Twisted River” is my twelfth novel.
Question: Does writing novels get easier with time?
John Irving: You know, because I write all my first drafts in longhand, in these lined notebooks, there's a certain excitement to me that that first blank page of paper doesn't know who you are, it has not read your previous works. So you feel as naive as this sounds, you feel as if you're starting a journey for the first time, whether it's the tenth or the eleventh or the twelfth time, and whether or not the same obsessions that have haunted you for most of your writing life will once again show themselves, you still feel it's a new adventure every time. I like that about the beginning process.
Question: How long was “Last Night in Twisted River” in your head?
John Irving: Well, for twenty years, my wife argues more than twenty years, but I have trouble remembering more than twenty years, for twenty years at least, this story about a cook and his pre-teenage son has been in my mind. Surprisingly I knew quite a lot about this story, as long as twenty years ago, but not enough to really get started. I began and finished several novels that have been in my mind not nearly as long because in their cases, the last sentences came to me and as you probably know, I never begin a novel until I've written that last sentence. In twelve novels, not even the punctuation in those last sentences has changed and once I get that last sentence, I can manage to make a kind of roadmap of the story, find my way back to where I think the book should begin. That's just been my process and continues to be my process.
But in this book's case, there was something missing from what I knew and I couldn't, for the longest time, I couldn't get that ending clearly in mind, although I knew a lot about the story. I knew these two men were fugitives. I knew they would be on the run for fifty years. I knew that the story began in a kind of frontier-justice sort of place, one law, a bad cop. I knew it was close to the Canadian border. And most of all, I knew why the cook had this twelve-year-old boy, because by the end of the novel, I knew that kid would have become a writer and it would turn out that he was actually writing the very story we've been reading. That may seem like a lot to know to not get started, but I saw that there were things that had been kept from this boy that he didn't know and I didn't know what those things were.
Question: Are there other sentences in your work that seem equally important?
John Irving: Well, there are certain sentences along the way that seem pivotal, or fragments of sentences. There are certain phrases that I see as being of use somewhere in a story. Sometimes actual chapter titles, sometimes locations. It's not a very elaborate roadmap, it's really a bunch of Post-It notes that either are on the wall in front of me or on the desktop where I work so that I can put my finger on any one of those signposts when I feel the need to. It's basically the skeleton of the story, it's the action of the novel. When did the characters meet? Do their paths cross again? Do they live? Do they die? If they die, when, where, how? Those kinds of things.
Question: What is your writing schedule?
John Irving: Well, when I'm not interrupted by traveling, or school holidays for children--those kinds of things--I get up pretty early. I feed the dog, I'm usually at my desk, [by] you know, 7:30, 8:00 in the morning and I work for eight or nine hours a day and I work seven days a week. But there are a lot of interruptions. I have three children, I have four grandchildren, I travel a lot. So I can't say that I work, you know, seven or eight hours a day seven days a week every week, but when I'm left to my own choices, that's what I do.
Question: How often do you change the events once you start writing?
John Irving: Very, very little. Sometimes...
Read the full transcript at bigthink.com/videos/big-think...
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The books depict real stories of people and gives impact in understanding of life. A prayer for Owen, is the best book I think
I'm lucky to do somehwere between 90-120 mins worth of writing, and not every day. Sometimes not for days at a time. Being a single father, working man, the research, and every other kind of variable you can imagine, that hour and a half to two hours is a gift from God.
And the magic always happens in the rewriting.
Thanks, Mr. Irving. So ordinary, I think, the face we see. And such mystery behind.
I love the way you can just lose yrself in his pages.And as you admire the tapestry he is able to weave, you discover his magical brand of humour too , that simultaneously hits you.
I would think one of the greatest aspects of being a writer of his stature is finally getting to a place where he can choose who he wants to work with. When you're a journalist or new writer, someone else always has control of your writing. If you work a normal job, your manager controls your schedule. But at Mr. Irving's level, he can choose which director to work with on Cider House Rules. That, in and of itself, is the dream--in my opinion.
I couldnt agree more. I think that, for writers like Irving, they are protective of their work. so when it's being adaptated, they might turn down a bigger money offer (pure speculation on my work) in order to work with the perfect collaborator.
'A Prayer For Owen Meany' was the first book I read where I actually got the subtext and allegory without having to read criticism first. I was only 12 or 13 but that moment has stuck with me for a long, long time. Almost unbelievably I haven't read any of his other books.
I read GARP first, but OWEN MEANY is my favorite. I love all of his books, though SETTING FREE THE BEARS was my least favorite. His books are all mind movies for me.
what an awesome interview. repeatedly I forced back my hand since I tried to like the video again and again...(now I'm not even sure if I accidentally un-liked it..but I'll see to it)
Thank you, Mr. Irving.
And thank you, bigthink.
Fascinating stuff. Lucid!
love this guy
Garp is one of the great films. Wonderful cast.
you spoiled it john!!!
He writes all his books out longhand? Dang! I heard, too, that David Foster Wallace wrote his work longhand before typing it up, and that his book Infinite Jest was written in this way. Can you imagine?
But it's the most natural way of writing. There were only typewriters when he was younger, and they're horrible.
I like typewriters. I like them so much more than computers.
EDIT: I'm using an AlphaSmart now, too.
America's greatest living writer now that Cormac has passed
Not for nothing, but John Irving looks like an Austrian bear. Or at least my platonic ideal Austrian bear turned into elderly man.
Simmul•Tann•aye•yus. I'm glad I'm not the only one who does that sort of thing.
natural warrior ! so right
For sure, English is not meant to be an oral language as much as a written language.
I'm really sorry to say this, but I haven't a clue who John Irving is. But I wanted to point out that his answer to the bears question, as an outsider, is hilarious. "I live where there are bears, I see bears. The bear I saw most recently was swimming... I've just kind of been around them. I'm aware that they're there." Like, what?? I don't trust this man at all. He, and the bears, are up to some serious shenanigans. Sounds like his wife and kids are in on it too.🤔
His attitudes are haywire so his scribbling is of no consequence.
What on Earth are you on about? His scribbling is of no consequence? Have you been paying attention to American literature over the past 40 years?
Ramblings of a mad man.
American literature.
Yes, because everyone in the world is American.
@@MonerLaine America is the largest and most influential book market in the world.