John Irving: A writer's life

Author John Irving has mined his personal history and obsessions as the starting point for such acclaimed works of fiction as "The World According to Garp" and "The Cider House Rules." Now 80, he has published his first novel in seven years, "The Last Chairlift," a tale of sexual politics and ghosts. He talks with correspondent Rita Braver about inspiration, Charles Dickens, and acceptance.
#johnirving #writer
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[@brucejackson6451]

When you start a John Irving novel, you enter a world slightly askew from the one we live in, and it takes a bit to adjust to that world. There is more tragedy than in the average life, and more Fall and Winter, his characters seem isolated somehow even though they aren’t antisocial. But for all that they keep going, and the lives they lead-Garp, Homer, Owen, and all the rest-finally seem extraordinary somehow. They’re not superheroes or great world leaders or even particularly wealthy, but their lives are riveting and beautiful. That’s Irving’s magic, and even Fitzgerald could not top it: he makes the ordinary extraordinary. He hints that we may be extraordinary, too.

[@davidgiancoli2106]

Wow, nicely said. I've read Owen, and your description fits perfectly. Now I want to read more of his books!

[@nathanielpackard3688]

Had to read Owen for AP Literature, definitely asking for a couple more of Irving's for Christmas this year

[@lindaworthington4847]

Beautifully said. A true fan.

[@DonoVideoProductions]

He appoaches life in all its infinite variety and possibility. He knows that there is more in heaven and earth than is dreamed of anyone's philosophy. How lucky his daughter is to have him, and how lucky for us to share him.

[@TheTishy44]

Thanks for the book, A prayer for Owen Meany, one of my top 5 favorite books.

[@lynnyhen]

"The World According to Garp" is one of my all-time favorite books!

[@jenniferstone2975]

Mine too! “Lunacy and sorrow…”

[@hurst-cs2jh]

Hello Lynn? How are you doing?

[@gusgus8134]

900 pages? Sh*t, I'm going to have to read it. Hoping for a long cold winter!

[@randalllaue4042]

Missed the pandemic window...

[@tammiepulley7167]

I still remember reading the world according to garp when I was in my early 20’s. It blew me away and I became a fan for life. Growing up in a conservative southern town was so hard. It was like someone heard my heart from so many miles away. It was literally healing to get to know all of the characters.

[@hilpei3675]

One of my favorite authors ever!

[@mackfarlainethebarenakedau5113]

He's definitely a great writer, but he needs to find new subject material.

[@camofrog]

I love the Dickens influence in his books. Such finely drawn characters.

[@whimsicalhamster88]

Wow, John Irving is a more amazing man than I ever knew from reading The Hotel New Hampshire and The World According to Garp. What a great dad!

[@jeanetteschock4744]

Prayer for Owen Meney is so good

[@mackfarlainethebarenakedau5113]

That's my favorite one.

[@saralynfosnight5139]

This man is one of my favorite writers, alongside Dickens. I've read many of their books more than once.

[@mililaniman]

I love The Cider House Rules,, I will read The Last Chairlift next.

[@randalllaue4042]

At least on list...

[@pamelamays4186]

Many years ago I read "The World According To Garp". Great novel!

[@passiveagressive4983]

I love John’s Hotel New Hampshire. I read it over and over again when I was young..He is definitely a great American novelist

[@kathleenvaughan3709]

I have loved John Irving’s Characters since I was in my early teens. I grew up in NH 30 minutes from the coast and have always seen the world a little different than most. His books made me feel like I was going to be ok. ❤

[@zeldasmith6154]

Genius of a show. I adore the different ways the artists create the sun. That alone is staggeringly sublime.

[@panthersoul]

I started reading John Irving when I was 11 years old... my mom would read his books and I was bored one day and took Garp off the shelf and read it (this was before the movie). Then hotel new hampshire... then over the next few years all of his published books at the time. His writing impacted the way I thought about life and people and made me an open and accepting person that cherished the differences in people... the struggles people have with sexuality, finding their place in the world, the need for love, and gave me a dark sense of humor to deal with life's hardships.. Sorrow floats. I would encourage all parents to have their pre-pubescent children read Irving novels. They contain a lot of adult themes but treat them with such grace and clarity and acceptance it really gives perspective and acceptance.

[@siddharthnaagar7028]

The hotel new Hampshire is still one of my favourite movies

[@antonov879]

John Irving? Stored in my mind, forever.

[@randalllaue4042]

Favorite author, will add to list.

[@petestevens3970]

Enjoy his style; recently completed “The Fourth Hand”, and picking up “Until I find you” next. Enjoy a lot writing, but Irving, Updike, Chabon and a couple of others stick out for me at present.

[@EverettBurger]

"The Imaginary Girlfriend" is a great memoir

[@markdaniels7174]

Yes! “Trying to Save Piggy Sneed” is a great collection of his shorter pieces. I also liked “My Dinner at the White House” and - on the fiction side - “The Pension Grillparzer.”

[@stephenmorton8017]

i noticed there were no ashtrays in his studio. handwritten manuscripts? shades of Dickens indeed. a ghost story? ok! i'm in for the long haul.

[@charlessomerset9754]

Fitzgerald wasn't lazy, he was "in the bottle" as we say. But I agree about Faulkner.

[@harrykenyon9262]

I have a trans child and I credit Irving’s writing as a pathway to understand people better. To consume people’s emotions and life story and to accept it with kindness. Garp had such a profound effect on my youth and in the development of who I am as a man.

[@jamesbarbatano6016]

My jaw dropped when Irving mentioned he hated Hemingway. I really like The Old Man and the Sea!

[@johnbrandt2167]

By John's logic of 'the more you are hated and subjected, the more intolerant people are of you, the more I support you', (paraphrased perhaps) he'd have been the perfect Dexter Dad.

[@panchamama]

One cool dude!

[@brianw1620]

I've never read him, but I'll have to give him a try. In my studies I tended to favor 19th century authors.

[@blaq4427]

May I recommend A Prayer for Owen Meany, A Widow for One Year and Hotel New Hampshire

[@claudetteholloway1126]

Great soul...

[@carolineprissette8197]

Une prière pour Owen est le seul écrit que je garde et relis.avec un Victor Hugo.

[@MDiStefano10]

Bud Light?

[@carolineprissette8197]

J'aime tellement l'oeuvre de Dieu....

[@katiatannus3146]

What is The world according to Garp about?

[@randalllaue4042]

GOOGLE!!!

[@mackfarlainethebarenakedau5113]

Pretty much what the title suggests. The way the eponymous character T.S. Garp sees the world and all the things that happen there in. But Irving has always described it as a "sexual assassination" novel, if that helps.

[@englishcottagelife8121]

Good question, I'vet spent many hours dissecting Irving's novels and forwarding the argument that his work is anything from fatalistic to absurdist. Indeed, what is Hotel New Hampshire or 158 lb marriage about? Why all the random, absurd deaths and accidents along the way? In Hotel NH, he wipes out half a family in an airplane accident where the family's dead taxidermied dog is the othly thing to survive among the passengers and luggage. And why always a big talking bear or a connection with Austria where he comments on enduring anti-semetic abuse when wait staff identify his surname as jewish. When I was in college, I thought of myself as sort of an Irving expert. My friends would gather around and we'd smoke cannibus and I'd tell the stories until I could no longer talk from exhaustion from laughing with them over the Indignity and absurdity of thee stories.

[@heatherhensley9183]

❤❤❤❤

[@woodenbeast9337]

Very cool guy

[@steveconn]

Garp made a haunting Robin Williams movie (lol, Fitzgerald didn't impress me...Fitzgerald's cheapest magazine sentence more memorable than anything Irving ever wrote). Our parent company.

[@heidithaw1072]

The Hotel New Hampshire was wonderful the movie not so much.

[@adrianaestrada9793]

Io 1

[@peggygibbons479]

What exactly is the difference between a toxic narcissist X Pres who will NOT stop talking and a novelist who just keeps talking...writing...for 900 pages Seems like both are all about, "Look at me, look what I did, look how wonderful I am."

[@peggygibbons479]

@@arnoldfloyd Scammer. Get a JOB and leave people ALONE!

[@mackfarlainethebarenakedau5113]

I'm not sure what John Irving has in common with Barack Obama.

[@AllenFreemanMediaGuru]

So he writes the total opposite way of Stephen King. King has no idea how his story will end. He lets the characters work it out. John Grisham knows his endings in advance.

[@wolfwind1]

Interesting. I’ve read a couple of his novels. Disappointing this turned into a propaganda piece for the false gender ideology.

[@beaubiden3244]

Lol he got woke

[@passiveagressive4983]

He never ‘got’ he always was. And thank God for it🙏🏾

[@markdaniels7174]

Always was woke. He’s an unapologetic liberal Democrat. And I love that.

[@M.H.I.A.F.T.]

@beaubiden3244 Aw you're upset that he's not as bigoted as you apparently are?

[@NA86737]

Great writer but hearing him talk his accent and timber is like nails on a chalkboard. Very affected WASPy sounding while he dresses like someone who is blue collar.

[@tammiepulley7167]

I love hearing him talk. Maybe I’m waspy.

[@sunnyhendry7144]

Uggh. All this to promote transgressive bs

[@mackfarlainethebarenakedau5113]

I know how you feel. And all because he wants all the rest of us to believe it, too. I love Irving's writing, but I won't be indoctrinated. JC4L.

[@ritahorvath8207]

. Huge disappointment .

[@M.H.I.A.F.T.]

@@ritahorvath8207 Disappointed abot what? That he loves his child no matter who they are? Cope, Karen.

[@Pitboolia59]

❤️❤️❤️