A favorite writer of everyone at Post Apocalyptic
Bohemia, he has provided good reads for 35 years. With bears as a central theme
in many of his works, & characters that are trying to be writers, he
remains a treasure to me.
John
Irving is the best ally the gay community has in literary
giant. The acclaimed novelist & Oscar winning screenwriter (adapting his
own The Cider House Rules) is the very definition of “straight, but not narrow”.
His first big hit, 1978’s The World According To Garp, featured a comic but heartfelt &
humane portrait of a male-to-female transsexual; since then, he’s explored homosexuality
& transgender ideas in The Hotel New
Hampshire, A Son Of The Circus & several other books. This summer I read
his terrific new novel- In One Person.
Irving puts gayness as the center theme is the story of Billy Abbott, a
bisexual hero. The smart story takes us from Billy’s upbringing through the
AIDS crisis in NYC & beyond. Irving proves that despite his tough-guy
writer image, his compassion for sexual minorities is real & deep.
Irving has been open about the influence of gay writers on
his voice; he lists Edmund White among his inspirations. He also has a gay son.
Irving: “I can’t accept that gay rights,
or the rights for people who are bi, or the rights for transgender people, are
as ‘hotly debated’ as they say. I think those people who can’t accept sexual
identity as a civil rights issue, are moral & political dinosaurs. Their
resistance to sexual tolerance is dying; those people who are sexually
intolerant are dying out, they just don’t know it yet.”
I have read & own 10 of Irving’s 13 novels. My favorites: The World According To Garp, The Cider House Rules, A Prayer For Owen Meany & A Widow For One Year. But, The Hotel New Hampshire has the special
place in my heart. Nearly broke, I purchased it in hardback when the man that
would become my husband & I arrived in Seattle in 1981. The novel got me
through a frightening time, starting a new life. The story’s catch phrase: “Keep
Passing The Open Window” became my motto for the early 1980s.
Irving celebrates his 71st birthday on this very
day, March 2nd.
my favorite fiction author, a prayer for owen meany being my favorite, something i reread every few years
ReplyDeletei met him at willamette university lecture a few years ago
i only wish his recent work were better, i haven't finished anything since the fourth hand