The Critical Response to John Irving

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The Critical Response to John Irving surveys the nature of John Irving’s remarkable popular and critical success as a novelist from the late 1960s through the present. The scholarly response to John Irving’s novels has impinged upon a wide range of contemporary subjects of interest, from postmodernism and ethics to gender studies, the family, and historical criticism. This volume draws on a series of contemporaneous reviews and scholarly essays to provide the reader with an in-depth look at Irving’s work. This book devotes particular attention to the critical reception of Irving’s first ten novels from Setting Free the Bears through The Fourth Hand. 

“The author of a number of bestselling novels, John Irving has enjoyed great critical acclaim in both the academic and popular press. This volume presents excerpts from critical reviews of Irving’s works, including The World According to Garp, Setting Free the Bears, and A Prayer for Owen Meany. An introduction by Davis and Womack provides an overview of Irving’s life and career to date.”—Reference and Research Book News 

“The authors show how Irving’s work has influenced current discourse on topics such as gender, domesticity, and postmodernism. A thorough introduction that maps Irving’s life and work also helps contextualize the relevance and impact of the author.”—American Literature