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John Irving writes very long novels that frequently follow the lives of his typically outsider protagonists across decades. I have been (re)reading these digressive and meticulously plotted books for approximately 30 years. A Prayer for Owen Meany (1989), in particular, has become, I realize, a vital part of the language with which I reflect on loss, hope and the experience of grace. Irving’s novels of education take a quietly subversive approach to empathy; indeed, his fiction is both admired and disparaged for its candid debt to Charles Dickens. This chapter examines why I believe that a decelerated re-reading of Irving’s fiction might illuminate aspects of our shared, as well as individual, experience of time and the potential of narrative to give shape to grief.

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“Reading Is a Gift”: Why John Irving’s Novels Might Matter More as We Age

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  • 发表日期：

    2025年

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  • Andrew Tate

摘要

John Irving writes very long novels that frequently follow the lives of his typically outsider protagonists across decades. I have been (re)reading these digressive and meticulously plotted books for approximately 30 years. A Prayer for Owen Meany (1989), in particular, has become, I realize, a vital part of the language with which I reflect on loss, hope and the experience of grace. Irving’s novels of education take a quietly subversive approach to empathy; indeed, his fiction is both admired and disparaged for its candid debt to Charles Dickens. This chapter examines why I believe that a decelerated re-reading of Irving’s fiction might illuminate aspects of our shared, as well as individual, experience of time and the potential of narrative to give shape to grief.