“Truly remarkable . . . encompasses the longings and agonies of youth . . . a complex and moving novel.”—Time “Astonishing . . . a writer of uncommon imaginative power. Whatever [John Irving] writes, it will be worth reading.”—Saturday Review It is 1967. Two Viennese university students, Siggy and Hannes, roam the Austrian countryside on their motorcycles—on a quest: to liberate the bears of the Vienna Zoo. But their good intentions have both comic and gruesome consequences in this first novel from John Irving, already a master storyteller at twenty-five years old. “Imagine a mixture of Till Eulenspiegel and Ken Kesey . . . and you've got the range of the merry pranksters who hot rod through Mr. Irving's book . . . tossing flowers, stealing salt shakers, and planning the biggest caper of their young lives.”—The New York Times

“The first of my father’s illusions was that bears could survive the life lived by human beings, and the second was that human beings could survive a life led in hotels.” So says John Berry, son of a hapless dreamer, brother to a cadre of eccentric siblings, and chronicler of the lives lived, the loves experienced, the deaths met, and the myriad strange and wonderful times encountered by the family Berry. Hoteliers, pet-bear owners, friends of Freud (the animal trainer and vaudevillian, that is), and playthings of mad fate, they “dream on” in a funny, sad, outrageous, and moving novel by the remarkable author of A Son of the Circus and A Prayer for Owen Meany.

On a New England campus, Viennese housewife Utchka and her aspiring writer husband live a rather placid life with their two children.Until, that is, they meet Severin Winter, Professor of German and wrestling coach, and his delicate wife Edith at a faculty party. Utchka and Severin are rather taken with one another, and, conveniently, their spouses appear to be similarly smitten.A bizarre ménage a quatre is the result of these convoluted desires, and what starts out as a bit of fun is soon subject to the darker machinations of obsession,..

It is 1967 and two Viennese university students want to liberate the Vienna Zoo, as was done after World War II. But their good intentions have both comic and gruesome consequences, in this first novel written by a twenty-five year old John Irving, already a master storyteller.

A collection of eleven chronologically arranged pieces of literary criticism on the works of twentieth-century American author John Irving, with a chronology and secondary bibliography; essays cover the novels, "The World According to Garp," "The Hotel New Hampshire," "The 158-Pound Marriage," "A Prayer for Owen Meany," and "The Cider House Rules."

One of America's most noted contemporary novelists, John Irving has created a body of fiction of extraordinary range, moving with ease from romance to fairytale to thriller. Although his fiction follows in the tradition of the great 19th-century world novelists, he is a quintessential American writer—his novels are laced with broad humor, farce, and absurd situations. He does not hesitate to tackle the troubling issues that have faced our nation in the past few decades, such as war, racism, sexism, abortion, violence, and AIDS. This study offers a clear, accessible reading of Irving's fiction. It analyzes in turn all of his novels from Setting Free the Bears (1968) to his newest novel A Widow for One Year (1998). It also provides the reader with a complete bibliography of Irving's fiction, as well as selected reviews and criticism. Following a biographical chapter on Irving's life, an overview of his fiction explores his work in light of his literary heritage and use of a variety of genres. Each of the following chapters examines an individual novel: Setting Free the Bears (1968), The Water-Method Man (1972), The 158-Pound Marriage (1973), The World According to Garp (1976), The Hotel New Hampshire (1981), The Cider House Rules (1985), A Prayer for Owen Meany (1989), A Son of the Circus (1994), and A Widow for One Year (1998). The discussion of each novel includes sections on plot and character development, thematic issues, and a new and fresh critical approach from which to read the novel. Campbell explores the great moral range in Irving's novels. She shows that all his novels deal with a character's quest to discover the self, a journey of raw energy that touches us because we recognize it as our own. This study will help readers to appreciate the experimental fiction that is Irving's trademark and his ability to capture the essence of American life in the last part of the twentieth century.

Contains biographical and critical essays on the work of important American writers. Presents scholar-signed essays prepared by experts in the field.

Surveys the nature of John Irving's remarkable popular and critical success as a novelist from the late 1960s through the present.

Wicks has made a number of important contributions to the study of the picaresque. . . . Wicks's book does not attempt to answer all questions posed by the term, but it provides the most comprehensive view to date on the issues in the picaresque debate. The first third of the book deals with a consideration of the picaresque as a genre, the role of the picaresque in literary scholarship, the value of a modal approach, and the nature of picaresque narrative. The difficulties raised in the chapter on the picaresque mode, for example, indicate how this approach, despite its flaws, can illuminate texts and contribute to the critical process. The remainder of the book includes brief but perceptive analyses of more than 60 picaresque works, from Alonso, mozo de muchos amos to the Woody Allen film, Zelig. The metacritical thrust and the extensive bibliography make this a true `theory and research guide.' A must for public and academic libraries. Choice Picaresque fiction, according to Wicks, is neither a historical episode in the development of the novel nor merely a phenomenon in the social and literary history of Spain, although both are important manifestations of this essential narrative form. It is, he contends, universal narrative structure and theme. His book describes and defines picaresque narrative with careful attention paid to its historical development as a genre and its persistent appeal as an archetypal narrative structure. Beginning with a definition and discussion of the basic picaresque narrative structure and theme, Part I considers the origins and development of a specific type of picaresque narrative in sixteenth and seventeenth century Spain--the picaresque novel. This is followed by a history of the term and its various interpretations by critics over the years. He then proposes a genre-construct of picaresque narrative, followed by an extensive bibliography of critical works. Part II explores the usefulness of generic awareness in the act of reading by describing sixty specific works of fiction which collectively illustrate the full narrative spectrum of the picaresque mode.

Contains biographical sketches of writers who either began writing novels after 1945 or have done their most important work since then.