At the same time, his mother begins writing her autobiography, A Sexual Suspect. After his graduation in 1961, his mother takes him to Vienna, where he writes his first novella. Garp grows up, becoming interested in sex, wrestling, and writing fiction-three topics in which his mother has little interest. Jenny raises young Garp alone, taking a position at the all-boys Steering School in New England. Unconstrained by convention and driven by her desire for a child, Jenny rapes the brain-damaged Garp once, impregnates herself and names the resulting son 'T.S.' (a name derived from 'Technical Sergeant', but consisting of just initials). Jenny nurses Garp, observing his infantile state and almost perpetual autonomic sexual arousal. She encounters a dying ball turret gunner known only as Technical Sergeant Garp, who was severely brain damaged in combat. His mother, Jenny Fields, is a strong-willed nurse who wants a child but not a husband. Īccording to the byline of a self-penned, 20 February 2017 essay for The Hollywood Reporter, Irving completed his teleplay for the five-part series based on The World According to Garp. He described the project as being in the early stages. On 3 November 2015, Irving revealed that he'd been approached by HBO and Warner Brothers to reconstruct The World According to Garp as a miniseries. The production was directed by Nadia Molinari and featured Miranda Richardson as Jenny, Lee Ingleby as Garp, Jonathan Keeble as Roberta and Lyndsey Marshal as Helen. Ī movie adaptation of the novel starring Robin Williams was released in 1982, with a screenplay written by Steve Tesich.īBC Radio 4's Classic Serial broadcast a three-part adaptation of the novel by Linda Marshall Griffiths in January 2014. It was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction in 1979, and its first paperback edition won the Award the following year. Published in 1978, the book was a bestseller for several years.

The World According to Garp is John Irving's fourth novel, about a man, born out of wedlock to a feminist leader, who grows up to be a writer.

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