In the press notes for In One Person, John Irving seems sour about how his critical reputation has suffered since the publication of 1989’s A Prayer For Owen Meany. In an interview, he grouses about how his first five novels—including The World According To Garp, the book that has the best chance of outliving him—aren’t nearly as technically well-written as the eight that followed. And it’s easy to see where Irving might be tired of the way his new novels are greeted with respectful notices, but also the constant sense that his most relevant work lies behind him in the late ’70s and ’80s, when he was one of the two or three most important writers in America.
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