The World According to Garp.

New York: E.P. Dutton, 1978. First edition of Irving's fourth and breakthrough novel. Octavo, original half cloth. Boldly signed by John Irving in a contemporary hand on the half-title page, Near fine in a near fine dust jacket, small name to the front free endpaper. Jacket design by Leo Manso. An exceptional example. The World According To Garp is a comic and compassionate coming-of-age novel that established John Irving as one of the most imaginative writers of his generation. A worldwide bestseller since its publication in 1978, Irving's classic is filled with stories inside stories about the life of T.S. Garp, novelist and son of Jenny Fields. "There is something of Byron about John Irving. Not only is it that he woke after the publication of The World According To Garp to find himself famous, but the extremity of his opinions and the nervous violence of his language recall that intemperate noleman, and like Byron, he would certainly say that love is no sinecure" (Robertson Davies). It was made into the 1982 film directed by George Roy Hill and starring Robin Williams in the title role. For their roles, John Lithgow and Glenn Close were respectively nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and Best Actress in a Supporting Role at the 55th Academy Awards.