on writing by John Updike

“When I write, I aim in my mind not toward New York but toward a vague spot a little east of Kansas. I think of books on library shelves, without their jackets, years old, and a countryish teen-aged boy finding them, and having them speak to him. The reviews, the stacks in Brentano’s, are just hurdles to get over, to place the books on that shelf.”

3 thoughts on “on writing by John Updike

  1. To me he sounds like a very humble soul, not influenced by those bright city lights. But rather to connect to the common man if possible. And I like what he says about books without jackets – like hidden treasures in the library or an old book store, waiting to be rediscovered, without pretense.

    • I also like the “years old”. The desire to have one’s work still being able to connect long after it was written, which is , of course, true for all of us with those books we carry with us throughout our lives, our old friends, still speaking to us, sometimes with more meaning than they had at first, as we grow into them with time.

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