My father was very outwardly religious. John McGahern More Quotes by John McGahern More Quotes From John McGahern My favorite optimist was an American who jumped off the Empire State Building, and as he passed the 42nd floor, the window washers heard him say, 'So Far, so good.' John McGahern empires building window Everything that we inherit, the rain, the skies, the speech, and anybody who works in the English language in Ireland knows that there's the dead ghost of Gaelic in the language we use and listen to and that those things will reflect our Irish identity. John McGahern identity rain sky The best of life is life lived quietly, where nothing happens but our calm journey through the day, where change is imperceptible and the precious life is everything. John McGahern calm journey life-is ...with a rush of feeling he felt that this must be happiness. As soon as the thought came to him, he fought it back, blaming the whiskey. The very idea was as dangerous as presumptive speech: happiness could not be sought or worried into being, or even fully grasped; it should be allowed its own slow pace so that it passes unnoticed, if it ever comes at all. John McGahern pace feelings ideas I think that each of us inhabits a private world that others cannot see. The only difference between the writer and the reader is that the writer is able to dramatise that private world. John McGahern differences world thinking I read all the time. I was reading a book I admire very much by Alice McDermot called Charming Billy. John McGahern charming reading book We absolutely believed in Heaven and Hell, Purgatory, and even Limbo. I mean, they were actually closer to us than Australia or Canada, that they were real places. John McGahern australia real mean I'd much prefer to write more quickly. John McGahern writing I feel I grew up in a different century than I live in. I think most of them are changes for the good. John McGahern grew-up different thinking I've never written anything that hasn't been in my mind for a long time - seven or eight years. John McGahern eight long years I think fiction is a very serious thing, that while it is fiction, it is also a revelation of truth, or facts. John McGahern serious-things writing thinking Yes, though I have nothing but gratitude for my upbringing in the church. John McGahern upbringing gratitude church I belong to the middle class that grew up very influenced by the Catholic church. The people of the novel are from a more pagan and practical world in which the Christianity is just a veneer. John McGahern catholic class people I think technique can be taught but I think the only way to learn to write is to read, and I see writing and reading as completely related. One almost couldn't exist without the other. John McGahern reading writing thinking Nothing ever holds together unless it is mixed with some of one's own blood John McGahern together blood I suppose . . . in writing you can't have regrets. I mean, you just get it down the way it was . . . it's only wishful thinking that things could be other than they were. John McGahern regret writing mean Amongst Women concentrated on the family, and the new book concentrates on a small community. The dominant units in Irish society are the family and the locality. The idea was that the whole world would grow out from that small space. John McGahern space book ideas When I start to write, words have become physical presence. It was to see if I could bring that private world to life that found its first expression through reading. I really dislike the romantic notion of the artist. John McGahern reading writing romantic When you're in danger of losing a thing it becomes precious and when it's around us, it's in tedious abundance and we take it for granted as if we're going to live forever, which we're not. John McGahern abundance losing forever Without the book business it would be difficult or impossible for true books to find their true readers and without that solitary (and potentially subversive) alone with a book the whole razzmatazz of prizes, banquets, television spectaculars, bestseller lists, even literature courses, editors and authors, are all worthless. Unless a book finds lovers among those solitary readers, it will not live . . . or live for long. John McGahern editors long book
