A modern classic from one of the world's greatest living writers.
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.
Brutal reality and hallucination, comedy and pathos. A rich,
unified tapestry
*Time*
John Irving, it is abundantly clear, is a true artist. He is not
afraid to take on great themes
*Los Angeles Times*
John Irving has been compared with Kurt Vonnegut and J. D.
Salinger, but is arguably more inventive than either
*The Times*
Three or four times as funny as most novels
*The New Yorker*
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