Garp is a character in a novel. He exists in and of the moment. He has no thoughts on the century just passed. Frankly, neither do I. The end of a century is an arbitrary demarcation. As for literature, the century I most admire is the 19th-- long past. I suspect that the next ten years will resemble the last ten. I'm not interested in the attention given to the end of the century, or to the passing of the last thousand years.
Has your approach to writing women changed or evolved through the years?
My approach to writing women is no different than my approach to writing men or children: all characters have to be vivid, realistic, make an emotional and psychological connection with the reader. Characterization is a duty of the novelist. I see nothing about it that is gender-related. If women writers cannot create believable male characters, they are not good writers, either. Who is the best adulteress ever created? Emma Bovary. A guy created her. Who is the best vengeful lover (male) in all literature? Heathcliff-- created by a woman.
Do you think Garp is a feminist?
A feminist is a changeable term, too broad to mean anything anymore. No, Garp was not a feminist-- he knew and like women. He had a strong mother and a strong wife. I am not political about characters.
Do you plan to bring your own adaptation of A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY to the screen?
I have no interest in a film of OWEN MEANY. I believe that the nature of a religious miracle cannot be captured in the two-dimensional world of film. I can write about Owen as a miracle through the eyes of a deranged "witness"-- Johnny Wheelwright. Johnny is flawed. He believes in Owen. The reader may choose to believe in the religious nature of what happens to Owen, or not. In a film, you have no choice: what you see is what you're told to believe. That is why I had no interest in writing a screenplay of OWEN MEANY myself, and why I saw no reason to prevent Mark Steven Johnson from writing and directing "Simon Birch", which was suggested by A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY. I asked Mark not to call his film "Owen Meany" because it was so different from the novel; and he was and is an honorable gentleman-- he agreed.
What kind of music do you listen to?
I don't listen to music very much, unless it's something my kids put on and then I am basically appalled. I like Bob Dylan, I like Bach. In the car, I play country-western music, which is sort of like reading the newspapers. I do pay attention to the musical scores of certain movies that I like. I think Rachel Portman's original score for THE CIDER HOUSE RULES is brilliant. I play the CD when I'm working out in the gym. It's like seeing the movie without a screen. I love doing that. But that's pretty rare, and I think it is well-deserved that Rachel got an Academy Award nomination for that score.
