Did any of you see the New Yorker Page-Turner article posted yesterday Do Writers Really Retire? by Ian Crouch? I found it really well written especially since every time I started asking myself “but what about…?” he would answer me. The article was prompted by a PBS documentary on Philip Roth and of course, Roth’s announcement not long ago that he is retiring.
Do writers really retire? It’s a good question. There have been plenty of writers who have said they were retiring but then a year or two later are publishing a new book (Stephen King I’m looking at you). And of course there are writers who make no announcement but stop publishing books (Harper Lee). There are also writers who stop publishing because of illness (Gabriel Garcia Marquez). We usually think of writers writing until they die. I mean, when you are a writer, can you really just stop? It’s not as though writer is a normal sort of job like most of us have at an office or a factory or some other place of business. We, I, imagine writing as being a sort of job that infuses your life and is an integral part of who you are. Plus, it is something you do because you love it so much, because you can’t not do it. How do you retire from a job like that?
Maybe my view of what it is like to be a writer is incorrect? Maybe a person can retire from writing. But what does a retired writer spend his time doing? How does one turn off the habit? How does one not meet someone interesting and think, “She’ll make a perfect character in my new novel!” Or hear a great turn of phrase or interesting piece of conversation and not think “oh I’m going to use that in my novel!”
But Roth says he has retired. I, and I think many others, find it hard to believe. When I first heard the news I thought, yeah right. But maybe he really has stopped writing. Maybe the need to write has disappeared. Maybe he doesn’t feel like he has anything left to say. Maybe he is tired. Maybe all he needs is a long vacation, permission to relax for a bit. Maybe in six months he’ll get a great idea for a new novel and come out of retirement.
The only other jobs I can think of that we would be surprised about a retirement announcement would be an artist — painter, photographer, etc. There are lots of professions in which people work for a long time. Librarians are notorious for working well into their later years which makes it harder for us younger librarians to find jobs. But we expect that even librarians will retire eventually. So I guess, why not writers? Still seems an odd notion though. Maybe Roth is now a trendsetter.
Yes, I read it and like you I found it historically interesting and well written. Let me assure you Philip Roth has not retired. He may not write any more novels again, but he’s not playing golf or bridge. As I understand it, he’s quite busy with a number of writing-related activities, working daily with his biographer, granting interviews, visiting with his many writing friends. I suspect it won’t be long before we’ll be able to read something he’s written again, but not a novel.
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Richard, I figured you probably read it 🙂 Ah, so Roth has retired from writing novels but not from writing. Maybe he will give short stories or essays a try. That would be interesting!
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I’d like to see an essay or two, something much shorter with all the gusto and wit of his novels.
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Yes, that would be good. It would be a shame if he just went silent.
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I don’t think they can ever really retire. I think writing is something “in the blood” like other artistic pursuits. I love to sketch and can’t see myself ever stopping- I do go through dry spells but always find myself picking up pen and paper again eventually- something in my life would just be missing if I did not draw. And it will probably always be so.
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Jeane, yes, exactly. Like your drawing it seems like a form of expression that one just can’t stop doing.
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I know a writer who says he has retired. I am not sure that means that he is not doing any writing at all, but it does mean he has entirely bowed out of the “writer” identity, and the publishing/literary/writerly circles. I had the same feeling: how can you retire from something that you just are?
On the other hand, I think many people could retire from being, say, a librarian. And perhaps should 😉
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Orwell says somewhere that most novelists have a productive life of perhaps 10-15 years before they run out of things to say. For him HG Wells was a prime example of a writer who simply went on producing books because… well that was what he did. It was his career choice. I don’t suppose Rabelais or Goethe thought in the same way about their writing life. I suppose we can all think of novelists (particularly) who keep on producing long after their creative gifts have been used up while other veteran writers keep on writing because it is so much part of them. I think that is a fantastic thing. I remember a piece by Martin Amis remembering the novelist John Braine. Braine was the author of Room At the Top a huge success in the 1960s. He was an “angry young man” who by the end of his life was pretty much forgotten and a rather tiresome reactionary ranter fallen on hard times. He continued to write, however and still believed that he was the best novelist in England and had something to say. I hope Roth doesn’t give up writing fiction- he seems very pessimistic about the future of the form.
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I meant that Braine may have been a bit deluded but that there is something admirable in his self belief and his faith in fiction.
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Ian, I am not certain I agree with Orwell. It may hold true for some writers, but there are plenty who continue to publish very fine books their entire lives. That doesn’t mean every book is a masterpiece. Perhaps some writers use up their talents early like Wells and Braine, and others somehow manage to balance it out over the course of a lifetime. I wonder what the difference is between them? I hope Roth doesn’t give up fiction writing either but he does seem rather glum about fiction in general. Perhaps that is why he is calling it quits? he has lost his faith so to speak, and doesn’t see the point of going on.
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Melwyk, Interesting about your friend. Perhaps that is what Roth means too, he has just decided to stop publishing but he still writes. Maybe when he dies he will leave a few completed novels in his desk. Heh, I have met several librarians who should retire but yet they keep on, happy in their unhappiness and burnout. Sigh.
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I’m inclined to think that as art is not a profession, it’s not something you can ever really retire from. An author may decide to no longer publish and no longer go through the arduous process of being a “famous writer”, but I find it difficult to imagine that the author will quit writing altogether, or quit viewing the world through a literary lens…
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Bibliobio, yes, exactly! Art is not a profession. And perhaps when he says he has retired Roth means he has retired from publishing novels. I suppose we will find out what it means eventually.
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Oh Stefanie, if I were in the US I’d retire just for you! (In fact, when I retired I joked that I was doing it to make way for Gen X – which I was of course, making way that is, though it wasn’t my prime reason for doing so. Did that ramble make sense?).
But, like you I tend not to think of “creative artists” retiring. Ballet dancers retire because they physically can’t do it anymore; singers and other musicians retire, much older, for the same reason. But, those whose jobs don’t have quite the same physical demands, I tend not to think of retiring. Slowing down perhaps – because even writing can be physically as well as mentally demanding – but not retiring. He might come back, like our famous Dame Nellie Melba who was famous for making many farewell appearances. I guess it’s a good way of promoting oneself!
Seriously though, I guess we shouldn’t generalise about writers. And maybe “retirement” can mean different things to different people. It may mean retiring from a commitment to producing x books for your publisher and writing at your own pace, or writing different stuff. Or, it may mean not writing and doing something else. It will be interesting to see what Roth does…
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Whisperinggums, LOL, your ramble made perfect sense 🙂
I was thinking about what sort of creative artists we expect to retire and thought of dancers and singers too. Dancers can become teachers and choreographers after they retire and singers can become music producers and voice coaches/teachers so they can continue in their fields just not doing what they did originally. Perhaps that is what Roth has in mind for his retirement? He has retired from being a novelist and is now going to pursue a different aspect of the writing life. Or as you say, it might mean writing at his own pace without worrying about publishing and when a book is done. It will for sure be interesting to see what he does.
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Glad I made sense … And you’re right about dancers, musicians etc except of course Li Cunxin who retired from ballet to become a stockbroker! Though the call was too strong and after quite a few years he has gone back to a ballet company as artistic director or some such!
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A stockbroker? Now there’s a career change!
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It sure was … but he saw the light LOL … no, he’s a very interesting, sincere, thoughtful man I think.
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Maeve Binchy was another writer who announced her retirement on more than one occasion but much to her readers’ delight never quite managed to stick to it. I can think of some writers who perhaps ought to retire as their work diminishes as they get older, but I find it hard to believe that anyone who has the writing bug can ever really stop.
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Alex, Roth’s announcement is kind of like the boy who cried wolf. There have been so many other writers before him who have retired and then kept right on publishing novels that it is hard to believe Roth will really stick to it.
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I suspect it varies from author to author whether they can really retire or not. I suspect, along with Alex, that most writers have the writing bug and can’t stop, but surely some authors tire of it or begin to feel as though they’ve said everything they want to. It’s hard to believe that of Roth, who has been so prolific, though. Surely, as you say, planning and writing novels would be a hard habit to break when you’ve been doing it for so long?
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Rebecca, there are some writers who have a drive to tell a certain story and once they have then they are done. But it is hard to believe that of Roth. Perhaps he will be trying different genres instead of being “trapped” in novel writing? A book of essays, criticism, memoir?
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I think of writers like Mary Wesley, who published her first book in her 70s (not first written, of course, just first published). Or Stephen Grosz whose book I loved (The Examined Life), and he’s in his 60s. I kind of worry that that’s the timescale I’m on at the moment. It looks like it’s going to take me another 20 years to come up with a decent book project! 😉
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Litlove, LOL, they prove it is never too late don’t they? Sometimes it just takes a bit for the book to bubble up. You have plenty of time! 🙂
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I saw the story, but haven’t gotten around to reading it–Maeve Binchy also announced her retirement but then ended up publishing one or two more books, but has since sadly passed away. I don’t think either of a writer actually retiring–it just seems that it is something they simply are and how do you walk away from having a gift like that? I have yet to read Philip Roth…as a sidenote and was just thinking this afternoon of doing so. I guess if he does retire I’ll be able to Umm…catch up with all his books…
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Danielle, exactly, how do you walk away from having a gift like that? if only it were transferable, I’d offer to take it off his hands for him 😉
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