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Irving has put together a selection of fiction and non-fiction in this collection of short stories and essays from his literary career. He has divided the volume into three parts: Memoirs, Fiction and Homage. Each piece is followed by a section in which Irving comments on the piece, placing it in an historical context, providing insightful and often funny comments on how the story began as well other interesting personal thoughts.
Irving begins the "Memoir" section, with the piece that graces the title and it is my favorite in the entire collection. It is the story of Piggy Sneed, a retarded pig farmer who collected garbage in Irving’s home town. Irving and his adolescent friends often taunted Piggy who lived in close proximity to his animals, fed his pigs the garbage he collected and always smelled badly. The boys constantly harassed him, called him names and made fun of him. In contrast to their behavior, Irving’s grandmother always treated Piggy with the respect she felt was due anyone trying their best to make their way in the world in spite of their circumstances. She always greeted him by name, spoke to him respectfully and paid her bills on time. When Irving and his friends grew older and joined the Volunteer Fire Department, they were called one evening to Piggy’s burning barn. When they arrived the fire was so advanced they were told to stay back and let the flames burn themselves out. While they waited for the fire to die down, Irving stumbled on his creative voice, regaling his friends with an imaginary story about how Piggy had escaped the blaze and was already on his way to Florida. The discovery of his ability to merge actual facts with imaginary truth and create an entertaining ongoing story line, helped direct Irving to choosing writing as his life career. In the “after piece”, Irving identifies his grandmother Helen Bates Winslow, as a woman he greatly respected who supported that choice but disapproved of both the subject and the language of his first novel and refused to read any of his later work.
The second memoir titled “The Imaginary Girlfriend” I had already read as a “stand alone” volume, one which I did not really enjoy. Although it describes Irving’s early life, it is immersed in his obsession with wrestling, providing the reader with endless details of matches won, wrestling holds that were or were not successful, injuries he suffered and coaches he admired. I found it quite uninteresting, but it clarifies for those interested in Irving's life story how and why he developed his second passion in life, his first being his writing.
“My Dinner at the Whitehouse” is a story I did not find noteworthy, consisting largely of a rant against Republicans, a comical criticism of Dan Quayle and a mean poke at George Bush who became ill at a state dinner in Japan and vomited, a fact widely reported in the media.
The next section titled "Fiction" contains six short stories.
In “Interior Space” a urologist, an architect, a walnut tree, a naughty youth named Harlan Booth with the clap and Margaret, a girl out for revenge are all included in a strange story that I did enjoy. Irving also said it was one of his favorites, pointing it out as a great example of a story that started out in one place but ended up in another. Irving says this is what happens when a writer allows his muse to lead his writing.
“Brennbar’s Rant” is an angry little story, told from the point of view of a woman about her husband, published in the December 1974 issue of Playboy magazine and attributed to a fictional writer named Edith Winter. It was written by Irving in response to a challenge that he could not write a story from a woman’s point of view, a challenge he accepted, proving his point with this piece. It describes a man misbehaving at a dinner party, a story about political correctness which also includes Irving’s opinion on popularity. However it is a story I found altogether easily forgettable.
“The Pension Grillparzer” is the short story that was originally published as a part of Irving’s celebrated novel “The World According to Garp”. Here Irving lets his imagination run rampant as he tells the tale of a travelling family who meet a host of interesting people in a rundown rooming house. Like much of Irving’s work it includes a bear, the wonderful Duna who rides a unicycle. In the end note, Irving explains why the story was broken up and told in two parts in the novel.
“Other People’s Dreams" was a story which initially drove Irving to distraction. He couldn’t get it right and was constantly changing the title and the opening scene. He kept shoving the manuscript back into a drawer until several years later when he restructured it and made the ending its beginning, which finally made the story work. Irving also shares how, looking back on his writing from previous years, he sees so much now that he never realized before.
“Weary Kingdom” is a look back at a story he wrote when he was only twenty-five, a story he submitted for publication although he harbored misgivings about whether it was good enough to appear on the printed page. Despite his concerns, it was accepted for the Spring/Summer 1968 edition of The Boston Review and it gave him confidence to continue with his writing. Looking back, what he likes about the story is how he was able to create a minor character in the third person, a skill he identifies as fundamental to successful story telling. The story centers on Mina Barrett, a matron in a girls’ dormitory who has lived a life of endless but comfortable routine until she forms a relationship with an adolescent student known for misbehaving. Irving humorously notes that on reading this piece now on the cusp of his fifties, Mina comes across as someone very, very old, yet she is only fifty five in his story. But he wrote this when he was a very young man, when fifty-five seemed very old. This strikes him as humorous now that he is older and fifty-five does not seem as old as he once imagined!!
“Almost in Iowa” describes a long car journey in which a nameless driver imagines a relationship with his car to fend off the boring long miles of the trip. It ends with someone vandalizing the car as it sits parked outside his motel room overnight. This story did not strike a chord with me as in any way remarkable.
In the section titled "Homage" there are three selections. In the first “The King of the Novel, Irving explains why he is such a fan of Charles Dickens and how that novel influenced his writing. He points out that Dickens' writing is emotional rather than analytical which is why some readers enjoy his work, while others do not. Irving believes Dickens tries to move the reader emotionally rather than intellectually and by that means influence the reader socially. He finds Dickens so skillful at describing things, that he believes the reader will never again look at something in the future that Dickens has described and see it in the same way as he has in the past.
In an introduction to “A Christmas Carol” Irving provides an in depth descriptive analysis of the novel, an essay which was used as an introduction to the Bantam Classic Edition (1968) of the book. Irving loves this classic, a tale of greed and redemption that teaches us a simple fact: that a man can change. It is clear that Irving’s great admiration for Dickens has not faded over time and Irving credits Dickens as the man who made him want to be a writer.
The concluding piece on “Gunter Grass: King of the Toy Merchants” is a homage to a writer Irving admires and is based on his friendship with the German author.
This collection of memoirs, essays and short stories does not present anything new as everything here has been printed in some form before. However, the end notes are interesting and provide some thought provoking remarks and context for the pieces. I sensed with this volume, an interim period between projects when Irving wanted to publish to maintain interest among his readers and supplement his income. A writer’s life is not easy and there is often a long period between projects, so it is difficult to criticize a man for trying to earn his livelihood. However, I would rather read Irving’s novels which I enjoy, as there was not much here that really grabbed my attention.
Irving begins the "Memoir" section, with the piece that graces the title and it is my favorite in the entire collection. It is the story of Piggy Sneed, a retarded pig farmer who collected garbage in Irving’s home town. Irving and his adolescent friends often taunted Piggy who lived in close proximity to his animals, fed his pigs the garbage he collected and always smelled badly. The boys constantly harassed him, called him names and made fun of him. In contrast to their behavior, Irving’s grandmother always treated Piggy with the respect she felt was due anyone trying their best to make their way in the world in spite of their circumstances. She always greeted him by name, spoke to him respectfully and paid her bills on time. When Irving and his friends grew older and joined the Volunteer Fire Department, they were called one evening to Piggy’s burning barn. When they arrived the fire was so advanced they were told to stay back and let the flames burn themselves out. While they waited for the fire to die down, Irving stumbled on his creative voice, regaling his friends with an imaginary story about how Piggy had escaped the blaze and was already on his way to Florida. The discovery of his ability to merge actual facts with imaginary truth and create an entertaining ongoing story line, helped direct Irving to choosing writing as his life career. In the “after piece”, Irving identifies his grandmother Helen Bates Winslow, as a woman he greatly respected who supported that choice but disapproved of both the subject and the language of his first novel and refused to read any of his later work.
The second memoir titled “The Imaginary Girlfriend” I had already read as a “stand alone” volume, one which I did not really enjoy. Although it describes Irving’s early life, it is immersed in his obsession with wrestling, providing the reader with endless details of matches won, wrestling holds that were or were not successful, injuries he suffered and coaches he admired. I found it quite uninteresting, but it clarifies for those interested in Irving's life story how and why he developed his second passion in life, his first being his writing.
“My Dinner at the Whitehouse” is a story I did not find noteworthy, consisting largely of a rant against Republicans, a comical criticism of Dan Quayle and a mean poke at George Bush who became ill at a state dinner in Japan and vomited, a fact widely reported in the media.
The next section titled "Fiction" contains six short stories.
In “Interior Space” a urologist, an architect, a walnut tree, a naughty youth named Harlan Booth with the clap and Margaret, a girl out for revenge are all included in a strange story that I did enjoy. Irving also said it was one of his favorites, pointing it out as a great example of a story that started out in one place but ended up in another. Irving says this is what happens when a writer allows his muse to lead his writing.
“Brennbar’s Rant” is an angry little story, told from the point of view of a woman about her husband, published in the December 1974 issue of Playboy magazine and attributed to a fictional writer named Edith Winter. It was written by Irving in response to a challenge that he could not write a story from a woman’s point of view, a challenge he accepted, proving his point with this piece. It describes a man misbehaving at a dinner party, a story about political correctness which also includes Irving’s opinion on popularity. However it is a story I found altogether easily forgettable.
“The Pension Grillparzer” is the short story that was originally published as a part of Irving’s celebrated novel “The World According to Garp”. Here Irving lets his imagination run rampant as he tells the tale of a travelling family who meet a host of interesting people in a rundown rooming house. Like much of Irving’s work it includes a bear, the wonderful Duna who rides a unicycle. In the end note, Irving explains why the story was broken up and told in two parts in the novel.
“Other People’s Dreams" was a story which initially drove Irving to distraction. He couldn’t get it right and was constantly changing the title and the opening scene. He kept shoving the manuscript back into a drawer until several years later when he restructured it and made the ending its beginning, which finally made the story work. Irving also shares how, looking back on his writing from previous years, he sees so much now that he never realized before.
“Weary Kingdom” is a look back at a story he wrote when he was only twenty-five, a story he submitted for publication although he harbored misgivings about whether it was good enough to appear on the printed page. Despite his concerns, it was accepted for the Spring/Summer 1968 edition of The Boston Review and it gave him confidence to continue with his writing. Looking back, what he likes about the story is how he was able to create a minor character in the third person, a skill he identifies as fundamental to successful story telling. The story centers on Mina Barrett, a matron in a girls’ dormitory who has lived a life of endless but comfortable routine until she forms a relationship with an adolescent student known for misbehaving. Irving humorously notes that on reading this piece now on the cusp of his fifties, Mina comes across as someone very, very old, yet she is only fifty five in his story. But he wrote this when he was a very young man, when fifty-five seemed very old. This strikes him as humorous now that he is older and fifty-five does not seem as old as he once imagined!!
“Almost in Iowa” describes a long car journey in which a nameless driver imagines a relationship with his car to fend off the boring long miles of the trip. It ends with someone vandalizing the car as it sits parked outside his motel room overnight. This story did not strike a chord with me as in any way remarkable.
In the section titled "Homage" there are three selections. In the first “The King of the Novel, Irving explains why he is such a fan of Charles Dickens and how that novel influenced his writing. He points out that Dickens' writing is emotional rather than analytical which is why some readers enjoy his work, while others do not. Irving believes Dickens tries to move the reader emotionally rather than intellectually and by that means influence the reader socially. He finds Dickens so skillful at describing things, that he believes the reader will never again look at something in the future that Dickens has described and see it in the same way as he has in the past.
In an introduction to “A Christmas Carol” Irving provides an in depth descriptive analysis of the novel, an essay which was used as an introduction to the Bantam Classic Edition (1968) of the book. Irving loves this classic, a tale of greed and redemption that teaches us a simple fact: that a man can change. It is clear that Irving’s great admiration for Dickens has not faded over time and Irving credits Dickens as the man who made him want to be a writer.
The concluding piece on “Gunter Grass: King of the Toy Merchants” is a homage to a writer Irving admires and is based on his friendship with the German author.
This collection of memoirs, essays and short stories does not present anything new as everything here has been printed in some form before. However, the end notes are interesting and provide some thought provoking remarks and context for the pieces. I sensed with this volume, an interim period between projects when Irving wanted to publish to maintain interest among his readers and supplement his income. A writer’s life is not easy and there is often a long period between projects, so it is difficult to criticize a man for trying to earn his livelihood. However, I would rather read Irving’s novels which I enjoy, as there was not much here that really grabbed my attention.
