The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, March 02, 1979, Page Page 5, Image 5
Irvine
w
By Lehman Stiles
Th? World According to Qarp by Jo
ving; Dutton; $10.95
John Irving's protagonist T. S. Garp
a long, complicated tale to tell his soi
According to Garp. It is about a dog
alley and a cat that sits at the end of th<
ui reacn 01 me aog. i ne aog constanti
cat but can't reach him ? until by lunf
has moved the old truck that he is cha
that he can reach the cat. But evei
enough ? the chain chokes him and he
mouth enough to bite the cat.
But. . . the cat darts out into the i
getting bitten and is crushed by a big tr
But. . . Garp later tells his wife tl
u a a- it? -i?* 1
auueu nuns 10 me uog s cnain so mat
the cat and that the dog didn't move t
all.
But. . . that was all a made-up stoi
his wife. What really happened was th
once lived near was paralysed in his
pulled himself around in a little cart,
cart tipped over, Garp would go and
again.
Which was the real story?
That is the consistent, unanswered <
World According to Garp ? which is I
Isn't the world no more thr n how one 1
novel is the story of a writer who beco
and wonderfully entangled in his own f
his stories become more real to him tl
his own existence.
The tone of the book can best be des<
comic ? even in the midst of nume
violence and chaos, one finds himsel
Irving's sense of storytelling humor.
Then again, some scenes are openl
the one in which Garp rescues his soi
r~
I
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Jack Keroua
L
i's novel isaliv
lady down the street. His son is i
with her son, and in the course of
hn ir- rescue the crazy lady, who he ki
Ralph, from a young man who is
with her and will not leave. Garp e
comes up with and mistakes "this lummox" that
n in The World removed for a big Labrador retr
chained in an bed: "Mrs. Ralph mates with her
e alley, just out and she can't get him out of her be<
y lunges at the The great temptation here is t<
jing so often he scene after tragicomic scene frc
ined to enough novel, but that would take far too i
i then it's not entire book is composed of little g<
: can't close his narration of a style so fresh and u
wonders if Irving is not the noveli
~:~i i * *
surci iu dvuiu iciMiig American nieraiure into m(
uck. Irving's greatest success in Th<
lat he himself to Garp is the character of Garp I
he could reach whose birth and death are both d
he old truck at mother's ideas about sexuality
conceived by his mother's in1
y, too, he tells comatose Air Force bombardier
at a dog he had which she works, and he is killed b
hind legs and to his mother's principles), T. S. <
When the little this story; his strange, expanding
turn it upright innocence and promiscuity, love
extremism and unbridled modi
words, Garp is a full-fledged, card
question in The of the human race.
he real world? Death is the only enemy in Garj;
ooks at it? The nastiest characters with whom h<
mes hopelessly too human themselves to be
ictions; finally fascinating aspect of Irving's char
lan the facts of every figure in the story reflects s
His wife plays to the reason and lo
cribed as sadly hard to live by; his children refl
rous scenes of beautiful innocence of humanity
If nhnr?Hinrt a Vior*rl f/\ - ?
ii vnuvniiiig civ nui u in piuiCVl, II1C 111
Garp's attempt to hold to some i
y hilarious, as that aims to preserve that which is
i from a crazy
a JmSnK \V I?
A * * * *
c, uaroiyn ana Neal Casi
spending the night IHB ?|BHHI^Mlp
events Garp has to Kn ^HHHHEG||d
nows only as Mrs. lljm
spending the night iB|
inters her bedroom "
Mrs. Ralph wants JEBf
iever lying on the
) continue relating
much space, as the 9B L
;ms of plotting and H \\
ninhibited that one I j? \p
st most capable of Hjj||
1 next decade. Mfc j/fci
2 World According lB^jW-7t-', v\HLgl/ . ||
himself. A novelist
irect results of his
and lust (he is
tercourse with a
in the hospital in flj v, -/.iff| |||jgl| ?f wttMtaf
y a fanatic devotee
Garp IS the plot of ' ' . 1 ~~
world is filled with
and hate, violent
eration. In other KBB|B|^ jJ
-carrying member
>'s world; even the
J interacts are far
evil. The most
acterization is that
ome part of Garp.
gic that he tries so S ;. ;.? " p;XV>;v>':=V?ect
the cherished,
that Garp tries so ;
, -i - i - + r:-:-rrk
i ins slories aenne
model of morality
worth preserving. Ir\ fa
See Garp, page 15
HCreati\
I *
enlivens
Heart Beat, according to a n
excerpt from a work in progres
It is 93 pages long and is good
whole book if it ever reaches the
The executives at United Arl
? , neai as mucn as i aia, as mej
; i making it into a major motion p
[ rj and John Heard.
f _j The book was written by Cai
, ; various details of life with h
' [ Kerouac, the two heroes of the E
two parts, the first of which co\
the second of which covers the
It is written in a verv loose s
perfect sense, is always quite
JP'J \ M| made up of letters written by tl
f [ XhBmMShM covered with pictures and draw
Kerouac moves in with the Cas
out and thinks it's wonderful. T
they drop Jack off in Mexico on
Cassady marriage, and when tl
>CZL/jr receive a few letters from Jack
border.
i t~, ivju ^ rayoj
hihItA^I
^ ''j*?: m I Mi^ !s^aH
1 BB^ 1 '
n Irving
n
/e writing
Heart Beat'
' David Baker
oaroiyn jjassaay; ureative
otation on the inside front cover, is "an
is tentatively entitled The Third World."
I enough to make you want to read the
? marketplace.
ists Corporation must have liked Heart
t've bought it and are in the process of
icture starring Nick Nolte, Sissy Spacek
rolyn Cassady and in it she reveals the
er husband Neal and his friend Jack
leat Generation. The book is divided into
/ers the events of the spring of 1952, and
fall and winter of 1952-53.
tyle that, while it doesn't always make
interesting. A great deal of the book is
le three people and six of its pages are
ings.
e place in Heart Beat are as follows:
isadys in hopes of being able to finish a
comes so absorbed in his work that he
>lyn and Jack have an affair. Neal finds
he Cassadys vacation in Tennessee, and
their way. The vacation rejuvenates the
le couple returns to San Francisco, they
, who very much enjoys life south of the
J Sm Heart Beat, page 15