A writer's job is to imagine everything so personally that the fiction is as vivid as memories.
John IrvingRead
I will tell you what is my overriding perception of the last twenty years: that we are a civilization careening toward a succession of anticlimaxes β toward an infinity of unsatisfying, and disagreeable endings.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects a pessimistic view of contemporary civilization, suggesting that we are consistently heading towards disappointing outcomes.
John Irving's quote expresses a deep concern about the trajectory of modern society, describing it as moving towards a series of anticlimactic events that fail to fulfill expectations. This perspective highlights a broader existential anxiety about the future, where continuous disappointments may overshadow moments of achievement or satisfaction, leading to a sense of futility in the human experience.
Themes
CivilizationDisappointmentAnticlimaxesFutilityFuture
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about societal progress, one might quote this to emphasize the need for re-evaluation.
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It's not very interesting to establish sympathy for people who, on the surface, are instantly sympathetic. I guess I'm always attracted to people who, if their lives were headlines in a newspaper, you might not be very sympathetic about them.
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It is an important distinction to note that she looked not only as if she had taken good care of herself, but that she had good reason to have done so. (...) She looked to be in such total possession of her life that only the most confident men could continue to look at her if she looked back at them. Even in bus stations, she was a woman who was stared at only until she looked back.
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I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice. Not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother's death, but because he is the reason I believe in God. I am a Christian because of Owen Meany.
John IrvingRead
Because abortions are illegal, women who need and want them have no choice in the matter, and you-because you know how to perform them-have no choice, either
John IrvingRead
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