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The good news is that John Irving doesn’t believe that the book is dead. On the other hand, in a recent interview for “Big Think”, he says that if he were a 27-year-old novelist trying to get his first book published today, he’d be tempted to shoot himself.
I think my favorite response to this interview so far is from the Fiction Circus’ Miracle Jones, who says:
“As a 27-year-old writer trying to get his first novel published, I’d much rather kill John Irving.”
Instead of my typical point-by-point rebuttal, I thought this time I’d respond to Irving’s sentiments with a list of contemporary writers under 27 (or who have recently been 27) who have been doing just fine.
Jonathan Safran Foer
Karen Russell - was 25 years old when her first book, St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised By Wolves, was published
Jonathan Safran Foer - 25 years old when Everything is Illuminated was published
Joshua Mohr – 33 years old when Some Things That Meant the World to Me was published
Tao Lin – 24 years old when Eeeee Eee Eeee was published
Ceridwen Dovey
Lydia Peelle - 31 years old when Reasons for and Advantages of Breathing was published
Ceridwen Dovey – 27 years old when Blood Kin was published
Michael Muhammad Knight – 27 years old when The Taqwacores was published
Sarah Hall – 28 years old when Haweswater was published
I’d also like to mention Jessica Anthony for The Convalescent, but I’ve Googled until the cows came home and still couldn’t find how old she is.
Any suggestions to add to the list?
John Irving was my teacher at Bread Loaf in 1977 and he’s a great person and a terrific writer – when he read aloud the first chapter of the then-forthcoming “The World According to Garp” that year, it was thrilling – and I’m sure his concern for young writers is genuine. That is, he’s always been very helpful to young writers as a teacher and mentor.
But it’s important to recall that this fear has been with us forever. When I was 23 and starting an MFA program, I read Richard Kostelanetz’s 1974 classic “The End of Intelligent Writing” (http://www.richardkostelanetz.com/examples/kostis25.php) and one of its major theses was that the publishing industry no longer was interested in writers then under 40 or so, especially not baby boomers. It was kind of true.
My first book got published when I was 27 and my publishers kept my photo off the hardcover because they said I “looked too babyish” for anyone to take the book seriously. I’ve heard of others who had similar experiences back then, when 40-year-olds publishing their first novel were still called “young.”
If anything, I think it’s been easier for younger writers since the 1980s when people like Bret Easton Ellis, Jay McInerney, David Leavitt and Tama Janowitz were marketed as writers representing a new generation.
I read nearly all of Irving’s early novels, like “Setting Free the Bears” and “The Water-Method Man.” Would they be published today? Probably. But maybe not from New York commercial publishers who paid advancs that allowed Irving the financial freedom to be a full-time writer. (Back then, it was considered kind of unseemly for authors to do much in the way of publicity and self-promotion.)
John means well, but I just don’t think he’s aware of the alternative and indie press scene, the one that existed in the 1970s and the one that is thriving now.
I suddenly feel the need to clarify that despite The Fiction Circus quote above, I don’t actually want to kill John Irving.
I’m a big fan of Irving’s work, and I was lucky enough to meet him in person years ago when he came to my high school English class to talk to us about The Cider House Rules. I agree with you–it’s clear that he cares deeply about young writers. Which was why the “tempted to shoot myself” comment that seemed a little odd coming from Irving.
It was this pessimism I wanted to speak to, which these days is indicative of the entire publishing industry, rather than an assault on Irving himself.
I am a 61 year old, 62 soon, hoping to have my first novel published, so how do you think I feel? Pass the twelve-bore.
Nicole Krauss: A Man Walks Into The Room (28); The History of Love (31)
Aryn Kyle: God of Animals (27)
Lauren Groff: Monsters of Templeton (29); Deicate Edible Birds (30)
Andrew Sean Greer: Path of Minor Planets (30)
Laura van den Berg: What The World Will Look Like When All The Water Leaves Us (25)
Rivka Galchen: Atmospheric Disturbances (31)
Imprecisely others, Holly Goddard Jones, Nam Le, Paul Yoon…
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Tao Lin is brilliant.