“In this dirty-minded world, she thought, you are either somebody’s wife or somebody’s whore----------or fast on your way to becoming one or the other. If you don’t fit either category, then everyone tries to make you think there is something wrong with you. But, she thought, there is nothing wrong with me.”
Such a brilliant manifestation!
Strong, powerful, and compelling protestation, isn’t it?. Whether you agree or not, I think this sentence has such convincing power that people can easily understand what others are thinking, even though that other is living in imaginary world.
With these mere three or four sentences, John Irving completely defines exact character of Jenny Fields, a mother of a protagonist of “The World According to Garp”.
Yes, I started reading “Garp” again.
If imagination is something which gauges novelist’s talent, John Irving is nothing less than genius. All of his works are full of eccentric stories, but this one, “Garp” is extraordinary by far. Have you ever wondered how far human-being can think, or where our limitation of thought is? You would be surprised to know our sphere of imagination is much furtherer that you would guess, it is going to in outrageous direction though.
Such a brilliant manifestation!
Strong, powerful, and compelling protestation, isn’t it?. Whether you agree or not, I think this sentence has such convincing power that people can easily understand what others are thinking, even though that other is living in imaginary world.
With these mere three or four sentences, John Irving completely defines exact character of Jenny Fields, a mother of a protagonist of “The World According to Garp”.
Yes, I started reading “Garp” again.
If imagination is something which gauges novelist’s talent, John Irving is nothing less than genius. All of his works are full of eccentric stories, but this one, “Garp” is extraordinary by far. Have you ever wondered how far human-being can think, or where our limitation of thought is? You would be surprised to know our sphere of imagination is much furtherer that you would guess, it is going to in outrageous direction though.
about John Irving...
2 comments:
Irving's portrayal and characterisation of women in all his novels is certainly thought provoking.
My memory's a bit hazy, but it seems that in most of his novels the women are all pretty 'flat' - one-dimensional, or just a manifestation of a single or few feelings/emotions/characteristic. Certainly in comparison to his male characters, who are much more well rounded.
Two female characters who don't necessarily fit this mould though are Susie the Bear in The Hotel New Hampshire, and Ruth in A Widow for One Year. In a strange way though, I think these characters are somewhat asexual. Ruth, especially, is a very unusual character for Irving. What do you think?
Thinking about it, I don't think there are any female characters in Irving's novels I can identify with (think this is a good thing!)
I wonder, could John Irving be described as misogynistic? Or is he more complimentary to women than men?
Anyway, there are a lot of random thoughts here which don't fit together or sum up to much...but I suppose there are never any simple short answers in Irving's books!
Thank you for visiting my blog and writing insightful comments.
To be honest, I have never thought that female characters in Irving Novels are neither flat nor one-dimensional. Certainly, there is one type of female character he often uses in his works; strong, independent, and mature lady, who leads a leading character to adult world, or to put it in symbolic way, initiates him.
But I don’t think that female characters in Irving’s works are especially drab or monotonous, because each female is usually in each own special circumstance or has each own eccentric tendency, which easily evokes to readers variety of emotions mixed with affection, repulsion, sympathy and disgust. Those feelings have rarely allowed me to be bored with Irving’s characters, although there were times when degree of my repugnance was so strong that I couldn’t help throwing the book away.
Oh, maybe I just give much more thought on story itself, rather than each characters, so I have never noticed how Irving presents his characters or depicts their personally. Especially, I am so quickly enthralled in Irving’s fast and dramatic story-developing that I can’t pay much attention to each character’s details.
If so, it is NOT my fault, it’s Irving’s fault for grabbing my heart and incapacitating my small brain to think details by such a brilliant story-telling. I am sure you know what I mean.
Anyway, again, thank you for your precious comment!
masa
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