The World According to Garp Summary
John Irving

One of a few modern best-selling writers who also has literary stature, John Irving (born 1942) rose to prominence in 1979 with his fourth novel, The World According to Garp. His novels have combined ... Read more

John Irving enjoys a rare and prominent place among contemporary American writers not only for having published a string of best-sellers but also for having received accolades from critics in the popu... Read more

Critical Essay by David Ansen As any reader of John Irving's popular novel knows, a lot happens in "The World According to Garp"—assassinations, attempted assassinations, g... Read more

Critical Essay by Stanley Kauffmann [The World According to Garp] begins with the infant son of the dead tail-gunner being tossed into the sky; it ends with the grown Garp dying in the sky, in an ambu... Read more

Critical Essay by Greil Marcus Garp is harder to take, and more exhilarating, than one has any right to expect…. [In] The World According to Garp life is, more than anything else, intense ... Read more

Critical Essay by Bryan Griffin The World According to Garp was, of course, 1978's Ragtime, which is to say that it is the most recent manifestation of the greatest-novel-of-the-decade. (p. 50)... Read more

Critical Essay by Eliot Fremont-smith The World According to Garp is a book of dimensions. It is entertainment on a grand, anyway stylish, scale. It is bravado transfigured into bravery—or mayb... Read more

Critical Essay by Margaret Drabble [The World According to Garp] is not merely a book about writing a book: in the first chapters, [Irving's] defensive, distancing techniques strike more than t... Read more

In the following essay, Doane and Hodges examine the portrayal of strong female characters and feminist issues in The World According to Garp. Providing a feminist analysis of the novel, Doane and Hod... Read more

In the following essay, Wilson examines the postmodern construction of The World According to Garp, particularly elements of metafiction, irony, and the gothic bizarre in the novel. As a novel that re... Read more

Critical Essay by Eleanor B. Wymard The chilly aesthetic debate about the role of the artist to enlarge human understanding catches fire anew in two recent bestsellers: Daniel Martin by John Fowles an... Read more

In the following excerpt, Wood asserts that The World according to Garp is an intelligent and amusing novel, commenting on Irving's unique treatment of a writer's perceptions of reality.... Read more

In the following review, Stevens offers a positive assessment of The World according to Garp, commenting that the novel is an imaginative and “richly comic” satire. The World According t... Read more

In the following interview, originally conducted on November 9, 1979, Irving discusses the writing of The World according to Garp and the effect that the novel has had on his work and career. Of all t... Read more

In the following essay, Miller offers a critical analysis of The World according to Garp in regards to the development of Irving's writing style throughout the novel and throughout his career. ... Read more

In the following essay, Horton compares the novel The World according to Garp to the film adaptation directed by George Roy Hill, suggesting that the film effectively preserves the spirit of the novel... Read more

In the following essay, Cosgrove asserts that The World according to Garp bucks the literary trends of experimentation popular in the late twentieth century and revives the storytelling forms and tech... Read more

In the following essay, McKay examines the dual narrative voice of T. S. Garp as both biographer and fiction writer in The World according to Garp. In The World According to Garp John Irving forms a t... Read more

In the following essay, Shostak analyses how Irving's body of work—particularly The World according to Garp—displays his tragic-comic vision, narrative technique, fictional form, ... Read more

In the following review, Des Pres examines Irving's treatment of feminism, family, and gender in The World according to Garp, describing the work as “brilliant” and “disqui... Read more

In the following review, Goodman contends that Irving uses an effective blend of violence, horror, and humor in The World according to Garp. T. S. Garp is a writer, and so The World According to Garp ... Read more

In the following review, Bell extols Irving's treatment of the importance of family and the power of personal history in The World according to Garp, noting that the novel represents a definite... Read more

In the following review, Jamal describes The World according to Garp as a deeply inventive narrative that blends elements of nightmare and farce in its creation of an American “puritan folk-her... Read more

People live in a society where sexual desires exist not only in males but also in females. Men and women both naturally long for the fulfillment of these needs. However, these sexual desires can be ... Read more