What I like about John Irving is what makes me want to read
more than watch TV or see movies. He’s a very literate author, with metaphors
and parables designed to bring depth and nuances to his story. It may seem
pretentious to others –especially the fools who digest James Patterson “written”
novels over the last few years- but the simple message is just like Garp’s
observation when going to pick-up his son Duncan at a friend’s house late at
night. Garp is jogging to the house and he notices the flicker of TV set’s
being refracted out of people’s homes and Irving protagonist, Garp, ponders
that “this glow looks like a cancer, insidious and numbing, putting the world
to sleep. Maybe television causes cancer,
Garp thinks; but his real irritation is a writer’s
irritation: he knows wherever the TV glows, there sits someone who isn’t reading.”
I don’t consider myself a writer, though in my heart of
hearts, I think this is what I like to do. But as I’ve aged, the media aspects
of TV and movies have lessened in my life. Where once I cared deeply for TV
shows and its stars, saw movies on opening day and pushed and pulled people to come
with me, now I find them dull, ponderous and pointless. Well, not so pointless.
I still have a love of media, but I’m in tuned to the informational side of it now.
Journalism (and cooking) seemed to be the two things I’ve
missed. Instead of working in a bookstore –since 1987, it’s been the thing I’ve
done, I should’ve been writing the books that appear there. Had I known back in
high school that journalism was where I should have concentrated my career
choices instead of the safety of business administration I might be a happier
person today.
All of my regrets are bundled up like a years’ worth of
newspapers, sitting in my way. It seems I’m aware of them being in my way, but
unable to throw them out.
Anyways, The World
According to Garp was Irving’s breakout novel. It seems surprising to me
that 34 years after it was published, I finally picked it up. And I can’t say
why I’m slowly making my way through his canon. Perhaps that is a lie. In my years
of reading –mostly the late teens and well into my twenties-, I focused on
fantasy novels (just as I started reading mysteries in High School). As I got
into my 30s, fantasy novels were still there, but I began to read other genres,
and more or less, contemporary fiction (also called pop fiction).
While I cannot bare to read Austen, Dickens and many other
of the “classics,” I’ve found that Irving is more appealing to me now. I’m
slowly going through his literary canon and am simply enjoying his ability to
create these hugely interesting characters.
I don’t know; the edition I have is a mass market copy that
was released in 1998. In the afterword for the 20th Anniversary
edition, Irving recalls giving the finished book to his then 12 year-old son to
read in 1977 and asking him to sort of evaluate it. This book, according to
Irving, was the first one Colin would be able to read. As Colin noted, The
World According Garp is about death, and all parents fears of their children’s
lives. In some way, Garp (through Irving) no longer seems to care about his
fate, but will do everything in his power to make sure his children, Duncan,
Walt and Jenny, are safe. Garp would be called an over protective parent these
days as well as back then when the book was written. Which is not a bad thing,
but in Irving’s world, no matter how Garp tries to protect his kids and the
people around him, you can’t save them.
As Irving’s son Colin noted a few years later when asked if
Garp was, in reality, John Irving (most readers believe that all books about families
are autobiographical –this author more so than others, I think) the then 14 year-old answered “No, my dad isn’t
Garp, but my father’s fears are Garp’s fears- they’re any father’s fears.”
So like all of Irving’s books, the theme of death, gender
roles and sexuality are wound together like they do in real life. In 1978, this
book may have been shocking –especially what Garp’s mother Jenny does to get
pregnant- but today, it’s simply a reality TV series on MTV.
Reading, for me, is what defines me. The simple act of
picking up a book, turning off the TV, the computer and sitting and devoting my
time to the written word has more meaning to me that anything TV or the movies. Perhaps that is why I’ve become so critical of that media of
late; the written word is being denied in a world where set pieces, explosions
and CGI effects are designed to cover
the flaw that most TV shows and movies don’t care about the story, the author
behind the words.
Given a choice, I’ll always read. I’ll read until I shuttle
off this mortal coil. For me, the most tragic aspect of my life would be going
blind or living in the world seen in the classic Twilight Zone episode Time Enough
at Last. There, Burgess Meredith, a lover of books, stumbles through a busy
life. When a nuclear war happens, and he discovers he has survived, he realizes
now he has enough time to read. Of course, per the series, there is the twist
ending.
Life is a twist; both in the world of John Irving and The World According to Garp.
Great review and observations. And for the record, you are a writer.
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