If you have the guts to be yourself, other people'll pay your price.
John UpdikeRead
A Christian novelist tries to describe the world as it is.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that a Christian novelist aims to portray reality through their perspective.
This quote by John Updike speaks to the role of a Christian novelist in reflecting the complexities of the world around them. It implies that the writer’s faith informs their understanding and depiction of reality, striving to convey truth while also dealing with the moral and ethical dimensions that come with it. The novelist's task is to balance personal belief with the imperative to represent the world honestly, capturing both its beauty and its flaws.
Themes
ChristianNovelWorldRealityWriting
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the impact of faith on literature, one might say, 'As John Updike stated, a Christian novelist tries to describe the world as it is, highlighting the importance of honesty in storytelling.'
More from John Updike
All quotes →Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of. _x000D_ _x000D_ Suspect each moment, for it is a thief, tiptoeing away with more than it brings.
John UpdikeRead
Museums and bookstores should feel, I think, like vacant lots - places where the demands on us are our own demands, where the spirit can find exercise in unsupervised play.
John UpdikeRead
But it is just two lovers, holding hands and in a hurry to reach their car, their locked hands a starfish leaping through the dark.
John UpdikeRead
The reader knows the writer better than he knows himself; but the writer's physical presence is light from a star that has moved on.
John UpdikeRead
To guarantee the individual maximum freedom within a social frame of minimal laws ensures - if not happiness - its hopeful pursuit.
John UpdikeRead
Similar quotes
Of course there are big differences in length and character and vocabulary, but each level has its particular pleasures when it comes to the words one can use and the way one uses them.
Margaret MahyRead
When we're done with it, we may find—if it's a good novel—that we're a bit different from what we were before we read it, that we have been changed a little, as if by having meet a new face, crossed a street we've never crossed before.
Ursula K. Le GuinRead
How is it that, a full two centuries after Jane Austen finished her manuscript, we come to the world of Pride and Prejudice and find ourselves transcending customs, strictures, time, mores, to arrive at a place that educates, amuses, and enthralls us? It is a miracle. We read in bed because reading is halfway between life and dreaming, our own consciousness in someone else's mind.
Anna QuindlenRead
Bless my soul,” whispered the old bartender, “Harry Potter . . . what an honor.
J. K. RowlingRead
I've been writing long enough to know that fiction, as a rhetorical mode, works very differently from expository writing. If an author has a specific critique about contemporary society in mind, fiction tends not to be the best means to deliver that critique.
Ken LiuRead
And now may the blessing of God rest upon all men. I have told unto them the Epic of Kings, and the Epic of Kings is come to a close, and the tale of their deeds is ended.
FerdowsiRead