Editing John Irving (section)

==Career==
Irving's career began at the age of 26 with the publication of his first novel, ''[[Setting Free the Bears]]'' (1968). The novel was reasonably well reviewed but failed to gain a large readership. In the late 1960s, he studied under [[Kurt Vonnegut]] at the [[Iowa Writers' Workshop|University of Iowa Writers' Workshop]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://ew.com/article/2007/04/22/john-irving-remembers-late-kurt-vonnegut/|title=John Irving remembers the late Kurt Vonnegut|date=2007-04-22|work=EW.com|access-date=2017-11-11|language=en-US|archive-date=November 11, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171111152131/http://ew.com/article/2007/04/22/john-irving-remembers-late-kurt-vonnegut/|url-status=live}}</ref> His second and third novels, ''[[The Water-Method Man]]'' (1972) and ''[[The 158-Pound Marriage]]'' (1974), were similarly received. In 1975, Irving accepted a position as assistant professor of English at [[Mount Holyoke College]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/aug/13/fiction.johnirving |quote=his parents had married six months before his birth |title=Grappling with life |author=Nicholas Wroe |work=The Observer |date=August 13, 2005 |access-date=November 5, 2009 |location=London}}</ref>

Frustrated at the lack of promotion his novels were receiving from his first publisher, [[Random House]], Irving offered his fourth novel, ''[[The World According to Garp]]'' (1978), to [[E. P. Dutton|Dutton]], which promised him stronger commitment to marketing. The novel became an international bestseller and cultural phenomenon. It was a finalist for the [[National Book Award for Fiction]]<!-- National Book Awards were called "American" for several years from 1980, but must not be confused with [[American Book Awards]] --> in 1979 (which ultimately went to [[Tim O'Brien (author)|Tim O'Brien]] for ''[[Going After Cacciato]]'')<ref name=nba1979>[https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1979 "National Book Awards – 1979"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620135926/https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1979 |date=June 20, 2019 }}. [[National Book Foundation]]. Retrieved March 14, 2012.</ref> and its first paperback edition won the Award the next year.<ref name=nba1980>[https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1980 "National Book Awards – 1980"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200426083421/https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1980/ |date=April 26, 2020 }}. National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-03-14. (With essays by Deb Caletti and Craig Nova from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog.)</ref><ref group=lower-alpha>''Garp'' won the 1980 [[National Book Award for Fiction#1980 to 1989|award for paperback general Fiction]]. <br />From 1980 to 1983 in [[National Book Awards#History|National Book Awards history]] there were dual hardcover and paperback awards in most categories, and [[List of winners of the National Book Award#Miscellaneous 1980 to 1985|multiple fiction categories, especially in 1980]]. Most of the paperback award-winners were reprints, including this one.</ref> ''Garp'' was later made into [[The World According to Garp (film)|a film]] directed by [[George Roy Hill]], starring [[Robin Williams]] in the title role and [[Glenn Close]] as his mother; it garnered several [[Academy Award]] nominations, including nominations for Close and [[John Lithgow]]. Irving makes a brief [[cameo appearance]] in the film as the referee in one of Garp's high school wrestling matches.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/68229|title=The World According to Garp|website=afi.com|access-date=2024-01-23|archive-date=January 23, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240123221835/https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/68229|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:John Irving.jpeg|thumb|John Irving]] ''The World According to Garp'' was among three books recommended to the Pulitzer Advisory Board for consideration for the 1979 Award in Fiction in the Pulitzer Jury Committee report, although the award was given to ''[[The Stories of John Cheever]]'' (1978).<ref>Heinz-D. and Erika J. Fischer, The Pulitzer Prize Archive: Vol 21:  Chronicles of the Pulitzer Prizes for Fiction, K G Saur Munchen 2007, page 346</ref>

''Garp'' transformed Irving from an obscure literary writer to a household name, and his subsequent books were bestsellers. The next was ''The Hotel New Hampshire'' (1981), which sold well despite mixed reviews from critics. Like ''Garp'', the novel was quickly made into a [[The Hotel New Hampshire (film)|film]], this time directed by [[Tony Richardson]] and starring [[Jodie Foster]], [[Rob Lowe]], and [[Beau Bridges]]. "Interior Space", a short story originally published in [[Fiction (American magazine)|''Fiction'' magazine]] in 1980, was selected for the 1981 [[O. Henry Award|O. Henry Prize]] Stories collection.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.randomhouse.com/anchor/ohenry/winners/past.html#jump_i|title=The O. Henry Prize Stories|website=www.randomhouse.com|access-date=2017-11-11|archive-date=September 5, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170905135754/https://www.randomhouse.com/anchor/ohenry/winners/past.html#jump_i|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1985, Irving published ''[[The Cider House Rules]]''. An epic set in a Maine orphanage, the novel's central topic is [[abortion]]. Many drew parallels between the novel and [[Charles Dickens]]' ''[[Oliver Twist]]'' (1838). Irving's next novel was ''[[A Prayer for Owen Meany]]'' (1989), another New England family epic about religion set in a New England boarding school and in [[Toronto, Ontario]]. The novel was influenced by ''[[The Tin Drum]]'' (1959) by [[Günter Grass]],<ref>See for example Irving's ''New York Times'' article [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/books/review/Irving.html "A Soldier Once"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202061401/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/books/review/Irving.html |date=February 2, 2017 }}, about Grass's autobiography ''[[Peeling the Onion]]'', July 8, 2007.</ref> and the plot contains further allusions to ''[[The Scarlet Letter]]'' (1850) by [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]] and the works of Dickens. In ''Owen Meany,'' Irving for the first time examined the consequences of the [[Vietnam War]]—particularly [[mandatory conscription]], which Irving [[conscription in the United States#Vietnam War|avoided because he was a married father]] when of age for the draft.<ref name="Boyd Tonkin">{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/cooking-up-a-storm-john-irvings-latest-saga-reveals-the-secrets-of-authors-and-chefs-alike-1807175.html |title=Cooking up a storm: John Irving's latest saga reveals the secrets of authors and chefs alike |work=The Independent |author=Boyd Tonkin |author-link=Boyd Tonkin |date=October 23, 2009 |access-date=November 5, 2009 |location=London |archive-date=October 29, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091029075759/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/cooking-up-a-storm-john-irvings-latest-saga-reveals-the-secrets-of-authors-and-chefs-alike-1807175.html |url-status=live }}</ref> ''Owen Meany'' became Irving's best selling book since ''Garp.''

Irving returned to Random House for his next book, ''[[A Son of the Circus]]'' (1995). Arguably his most complicated and difficult book, and a departure from the themes and settings of his previous novels, it received ambivalent reviews by American critics<ref name="NYTimes">{{Cite web |title=NYTimes |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/97/06/15/lifetimes/17275.html |access-date=March 6, 2024 |website=www.nytimes.com |archive-date=March 25, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160325145306/http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/06/15/lifetimes/17275.html |url-status=live }}</ref> but became a national and international bestseller on the strength of Irving's reputation for fashioning literate, engrossing page-turners. Irving returned in 1998 with ''[[A Widow for One Year]]'', which was named a ''New York Times'' Notable Book.<ref name="NYTimes"/>

In 1999, after nearly 10 years in development, Irving's screenplay for ''The Cider House Rules'' was made into [[The Cider House Rules (film)|a film]] directed by [[Lasse Hallström]], starring [[Michael Caine]], [[Tobey Maguire]], [[Charlize Theron]], and [[Delroy Lindo]]. Irving also made a cameo appearance as a disapproving stationmaster. The film was nominated for several [[Academy Awards]], including Best Picture, and earned Irving an [[Academy Award]] for Best Adapted Screenplay.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/search/results|title=Browser Unsupported - Academy Awards Search {{!}} Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences|website=awardsdatabase.oscars.org|access-date=2017-01-26}}{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Irving wrote ''My Movie Business'', a [[memoir]] about his involvement in creating the film version of ''The Cider House Rules''. After its publication in 1999, he appeared on the [[CBC Television]] program ''[[Hot Type]]'' to promote the book. During the interview, he was asked about author [[Tom Wolfe]] "once again" proclaiming the death of the modern novel. Irving responded, "I don't read Tom Wolfe, so I didn't hear what he said." The episode then cut to a photo of Wolfe, and Irving elaborating that Wolfe "can't write" and his writing made Irving gag.<ref name="CBC Hot Type">{{cite news |last=Solomon |first=Even |date=December 17, 1999 |title=John Irving's movie business |url=http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1873170786 |access-date=March 6, 2024 |work=Hot Type |publisher=CBC Archives |location=Toronto |archive-date=April 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230417140505/https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1873170786 |url-status=live }}</ref> When asked about his statements subsequently, Irving has said he believed the ''Hot Type'' interview was over and he was speaking off the record, and that footage from the interview had been manipulated. Wolfe appeared on ''Hot Type'' later in 1999, calling Irving, [[Norman Mailer]], and [[John Updike]] his "three stooges" who were panicked by his newest novel, ''[[A Man in Full]]'' (1998).

Irving's 10th book, ''[[The Fourth Hand]]'' (2001), also became a bestseller. In 2004, ''[[A Sound Like Someone Trying Not to Make a Sound]]'', a children's picture book originally included in ''A Widow for One Year'', was published with illustrations by Tatjana Hauptmann. Irving's 11th novel, ''[[Until I Find You]]'', was released on July 12, 2005.

On June 28, 2005, ''[[The New York Times]]'' published an article revealing that ''Until I Find You'' (2005) contains two specifically personal elements about his life that he had never before discussed publicly: his sexual abuse at age 11 by an older woman, and the recent entrance in his life of his biological father's family.<ref name="While Excavating Past"/>

In his 12th novel, ''[[Last Night in Twisted River]]'', published in 2009, Irving's central character is a novelist with, as critic Boyd Tonkin puts it, "a career that teasingly follows Irving's own."<ref name="Boyd Tonkin"/>

Irving has had four novels reach number one on the bestseller list of ''[[The New York Times]]'': ''The Hotel New Hampshire'' (September 27, 1981), which stayed number one for seven weeks, and was in the top 15 for over 27 weeks; ''The Cider House Rules'' (June 16, 1985); ''A Widow for One Year'' (June 14, 1998); and ''The Fourth Hand'' (July 29, 2001).