John Irving letters to Rusty Unger

1980-1986

John Irving (1942-) is an American-Canadian novelist, short story writer, essayist, and screenwriter. He was born John Wallace Blunt, Jr. in Exeter, New Hampshire in 1942. Irving was renamed John Winslow Irving when his mother remarried in 1948. He was raised by his mother Frances (née Winslow) and stepfather Colin Irving.

Irving graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy, where he wrestled as a student athlete and worked as an assistant coach. He wrestled throughout his life and wrestling features prominently in his writing.

Irving left the University of Pittsburgh after one year. In 1962, he took a German course at Harvard University to prepare for entering the University of Vienna. During the course, Irving met his first wife, Shyla Leary. In 1964, they married while Irving was an undergraduate student. After Irving studied at the University of Vienna and returned to the United States, he graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1965. That year his first son, Colin, was born.

Irving received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the creative writing program at the University of Iowa in 1967. After graduation, he moved his family back to New England, took a job as an Assistant Professor of English at Windham College, and published his first novel Setting Free the Bears (1968). His second son, Brendan, was born in 1969.

Irving achieved critical and popular success with the publication of his fourth novel, The World According to Garp (1978). The novel sold more than two million copies in a year and allowed Irving to become a full-time writer. In 1982, the motion picture adaptation starring Robin Williams was released and included a cameo of Irving appearing as a wrestling referee.

In the years following the publication of The World According to Garp, Irving met and formed a romantic relationship with editor, writer, and film executive Rusty Unger.

Irving and Leary divorced in 1981. That year, Irving published his next novel The Hotel New Hampshire (1981) to solid sales and mixed reviews.

Irving's next publication The Cider House Rules (1985) put him in the middle of the debate about abortion in America. He met Janet Turnbull in 1986 and married her in 1987. They have a daughter Eva Everret Irving born in 1991.