Professor emeritus, editor and former Jesuit priest John L'Heureux has taught fiction writing at Stanford since 1973, and in that span influenced writers as varied as Michael Cunningham, '75, Harriet Doerr, '31, Allan Gurganus, David Henry Hwang, '79, Ron Hansen, Kathryn Harrison, '82, David Vann, '90, and ZZ Packer. His own 17 books include The Shrine at Altamira and The Handmaid of Desire.
So when he talks about writing, as he does in the seven interviews with Dikran Karagueuzian published in Conversations With John L'Heureux (Stanford Center for the Study of Language and Information), the result is opinionated and gossipy, reflective and theological. Here are some highlights:
On his motive: "I write because I want to make a new thing, a good thing that will entertain and, I hope, disturb."
On getting wrapped up in the work: "You live with Macbeth long enough and you find yourself going home with murderous tendencies."
On his people: "I try to let my characters be nasty, commit sin, revel in ugly political stances I don't have. . . . In real life these folks give me the fantods, but in fiction I'm not making fun of them. I make them sincerely believe this stuff. Characters in fiction deserve the independence and integrity we all think we possess in real life."
On the priesthood: "I left because it was too hard to be the kind of priest I wanted to be and it was too important to do any other way."
