Book description
In a spirited opening piece, John Irving explains how he became a
writer. There follow six scintillating stories written over the past
twenty years, inlcuding
The Pension Grillparzer
, previously only to be found inside The World According to Garp
, and now given its first independent airing.
John Irving was born
in Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1942, and he once admitted that he was a
'grim' child. Although he excelled in English at school and knew by
the time he graduated that he wanted to write novels, it was not until
he met a young Southern novelist named John Yount, at the University
of New Hampshire, that he received encouragement. 'It was so simple,'
he remembers. 'Yount was the first person to point out that anything I
did except writing was going to be vaguely unsatisfying.'
In 1963, Irving enrolled at the Institute of European Studies in
Vienna, and he later worked as a university lecturer. His first novel,
Setting Free the Bears, about a plot to release all the animals from
the Vienna Zoo, was followed by The Water-Method Man, a comic tale of
a man with a urinary complaint, and The 158-Pound Marriage, which
exposes the complications of spouse-swapping. Irving achieved
international recognition with The World According to Garp, which he
hoped would 'cause a few smiles among the tough-minded and break a few
softer hearts'.
The Hotel New Hampshire is a startlingly original family saga, and
The Cider House Rules is the story of Doctor Wilbur Larch - saint,
obstetrician, founder of an orphanage, ether addict and abortionist -
and of his favourite orphan, Homer Wells, who is never adopted. A
Prayer for Owen Meany features the most unforgettable character Irving
has yet created. A Son of the Circus is an extraordinary evocation of
modern day India. John Irving is also the author of the international
bestsellers A Widow for One Year, The Fourth Hand and Until I Find
You.
A collection of John Irving's shorter writing, Trying to Save Piggy
Sneed, was published in 1993. Irving has also written the screenplays
for The Cider House Rules and A Son of the Circus, and wrote about his
experiences in the world of movies in his memoir My Movie Business.
Irving has had a life-long passion for wrestling, and he plays a
wrestling referee in the film of The World According to Garp. In his
memoir, The Imaginary Girlfriend, John Irving writes about his life as
a wrestler, a novelist and as a wrestling coach. He now writes
full-time, has three children and lives in Vermont and Toronto.
