WRITER

John Irving

1942 - Today

Photo of John Irving

Icon of person John Irving

John Winslow Irving (born John Wallace Blunt Jr.; March 2, 1942) is an American-Canadian novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. Irving achieved critical and popular acclaim after the international success of The World According to Garp in 1978. Many of Irving's novels, including The Hotel New Hampshire (1981), The Cider House Rules (1985), A Prayer for Owen Meany (1989), and A Widow for One Year (1998), have been bestsellers. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of John Irving has received more than 2,144,775 page views. His biography is available in 44 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 40 in 2019). John Irving is the 607th most popular writer (up from 626th in 2019), the 619th most popular biography from United States (up from 690th in 2019) and the 61st most popular American Writer.

John Irving is a novelist who is most famous for his novels "The World According to Garp" and "A Prayer for Owen Meany."

Memorability Metrics

  • 2.1M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 65.50

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 44

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 6.91

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.20

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Notable Works

A Prayer for Owen Meany
Fiction / Literary
In the summer of 1953, two 11-year-old boys--best friends--are playing in a Little League baseball game in New Hampshire. One of the boys hits a foul ball that kills his best friend's mother. Owen Meany believes he didn't hit the ball by accident. He believes he is God's instrument. What happens to Owen after 1953 is extraordinary and terrifying. He is Irving's most heartbreaking hero. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.
19894 / 5
The Fourth Hand
2001
The World According to Garp
1978
The Cider House Rules
Fiction / Literary
First published in 1985, The Cider House Rules is John Irving's sixth novel. Set in rural Maine in the first half of this century, it tells the story of Dr. Wilbur Larch--saint and obstetrician, founder and director of the orphanage in the town of St. Cloud's, ether addict and abortionist. It is also the story of Dr. Larch's favorite orphan, Homer Wells, who is never adopted.
19854 / 5
A Widow for One Year
Fiction, Women novelists, Fiction / Literary
Richly comic as well as deeply disturbing, this is a multilayered love story of astonishing emotional force. Both ribald and erotic, it is also a brilliant novel about the passage of time and the relentlessness of grief.
19984 / 5

Among WRITERS

Among writers, John Irving ranks 607 out of 7,302. Before him are Karl Kraus, Judah Halevi, Pierre Loti, Dimitrie Cantemir, Erich Kästner, and Hugo von Hofmannsthal. After him are Elisabeth of Wied, Columella, Alexander Herzen, Stieg Larsson, Madame Roland, and Ferenc Molnár.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1942, John Irving ranks 44. Before him are Michel Mayor, Giacinto Facchetti, Jacques Rogge, Bob Hoskins, Jochen Rindt, and László Sólyom. After him are Margaret Court, Michael Crichton, Wen Jiabao, Wolfgang Schäuble, Giancarlo Giannini, and Walter Hill.

Others Born in 1942

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In United States

Among people born in United States, John Irving ranks 619 out of 20,380. Before him are Glenn Miller (1904), Martin Landau (1928), Melvin Schwartz (1932), Richard Meier (1934), Albert Pike (1809), and Ruth Benedict (1887). After him are Robert Woodrow Wilson (1936), George E. Smith (1930), Isaac Singer (1811), Joan Crawford (1904), Marshall Warren Nirenberg (1927), and Sylvia Earle (1935).

Others born in United States

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Among WRITERS In United States

Among writers born in United States, John Irving ranks 61. Before him are William S. Burroughs (1914), James Baldwin (1924), Allen Ginsberg (1926), Ellen G. White (1827), Theodore Dreiser (1871), and Napoleon Hill (1883). After him are Louisa May Alcott (1832), Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875), Michael Crichton (1942), Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811), Harper Lee (1926), and Ursula K. Le Guin (1929).

American born Writers

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