The Happiness of John Updike
December 10, 2005
I’ve only read a few random Updike novels, though I have enjoyed a lot of his short stories, essays, and critical pieces. Watching a long interview with him on BookTV, it struck me how happy he is. Perpetually grinning, discussing even the most serious topics with a sly twinkle in his eye, Updike is clearly someone who is pretty content with who and what he has become. And why not? He has had a pretty charmed career.
Also interesting was how differently his generation approached being a writer. It must create an entirely different internal landscape to conceive of creative writing of fiction, poetry, and critical essays as a career based fundamentally on craft that one can choose to pursue first in life and that one can expect to be suitably compensated for. Imagine deciding in college to just be a writer as one chooses to be an insurance salesman or a draftsman. Does anyone think that way anymore, at least at the outset?
People make a living through writing in these genres, but their numbers are small and I suspect almost all would admit to their good fortune, such writing being something done in one’s spare time…
Tags:
Publishing, Writing
All me-stream all the time.
content rss
December 11th, 2005 at 10:44 am
Takes some of the romance out of it, putting on the level of vocation. Unless you just love it so much that you can’t get enough. Strange, trying to balance the two. Many of us take refuge in avocational craft so as to be “free” from the influences and pressures of the market. But what would you write in your spare time if you were a John Updike? What would I?
peace
December 11th, 2005 at 1:42 pm
The romance for me is in the act of writing itself– how nice it must have been (and be) not to have to wedge the writing into one’s spare time. Not trying to keep awake those couple of extra hours on top of what is already, by any measure, a full day…