“Maybe television causes cancer, Garp thinks; but his real irritation is a writer's irritation: he knows that wherever the TV glows, there sits someone who isn't reading.”

— John Irving, book The World According to Garp

Source: The World According to Garp

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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John Irving97

American novelist and screenwriter 1942

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“wherever the TV glows, there sits someone who isn't reading.”

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“Wherever I am, people always know
as if a spotlight were on me with its glow.”

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Ch'ovunque io vada o stia,
Mi fa sempre apparir la luce mia.
Canto XXIII, stanza 36 (tr. D. R. Slavitt)
Orlando Furioso (1532)

“Maybe television causes cancer, Garp thinks; but his real irritation is a writer's irritation: he knows that wherever the TV glows, there sits someone who isn't reading.”

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