Amongst Women concentrated on the family, and the new book concentrates on a small community. The dominant units in Irish society are the family and the locality. The idea was that the whole world would grow out from that small…

Quote by John McGahern

Topics: John McGahern Quotes

I think fiction is a very serious thing, that while it is fiction, it is...

I think fiction is a very serious thing, that while it is fiction, it is...

Everything that we inherit, the rain, the skies, the speech, and anybody who works in...

Everything that we inherit, the rain, the skies, the speech, and anybody who works in...

When I start to write, words have become physical presence. It was to see if...

When I start to write, words have become physical presence. It was to see if...

I read all the time. I was reading a book I admire very much by...

I read all the time. I was reading a book I admire very much by...

We absolutely believed in Heaven and Hell, Purgatory, and even Limbo. I mean, they were...

We absolutely believed in Heaven and Hell, Purgatory, and even Limbo. I mean, they were...

I love the description of Gothic churches before the printed word, that they were the...

I love the description of Gothic churches before the printed word, that they were the...

When I was in my 20s it did occur to me that there was something...

When I was in my 20s it did occur to me that there was something...

Yes, though I have nothing but gratitude for my upbringing in the church.

Yes, though I have nothing but gratitude for my upbringing in the church.

I think technique can be taught but I think the only way to learn to...

I think technique can be taught but I think the only way to learn to...

But that private world, once it's dramatised, doesn't live again until it finds a reader.

But that private world, once it's dramatised, doesn't live again until it finds a reader.

Ireland is a peculiar society in the sense that it was a nineteenth century society...

Ireland is a peculiar society in the sense that it was a nineteenth century society...

I think there's a great difference in consciousness in that same way in that when...

I think there's a great difference in consciousness in that same way in that when...

I've never written anything that hasn't been in my mind for a long time -...

I've never written anything that hasn't been in my mind for a long time -...

I think that each of us inhabits a private world that others cannot see. The...

I think that each of us inhabits a private world that others cannot see. The...

When you're in danger of losing a thing it becomes precious and when it's around...

When you're in danger of losing a thing it becomes precious and when it's around...

The rosary was said every evening. I always liked that sentence about the medieval Churches,...

The rosary was said every evening. I always liked that sentence about the medieval Churches,...

For example, it's only about 20 years ago the people in that community would have...

For example, it's only about 20 years ago the people in that community would have...

My father was very outwardly religious.

My father was very outwardly religious.

Yes, but also one of the problems for a novelist in Ireland is the fact...

Yes, but also one of the problems for a novelist in Ireland is the fact...

I used to take five or six books away and bring five or six books...

I used to take five or six books away and bring five or six books...