Criticism > Contemporary Literary Criticism > Irving, John (Vol. 112) - Edward C. Reilly (essay date 1991)

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Edward C. Reilly (essay date 1991)

SOURCE: "Understanding John Irving," in Understanding John Irving, University of South Carolina Press, 1991, pp. 1-13.

[In the following excerpt, Reilly provides an overview of the settings, characters, themes, and literary techniques employed in Irving's fiction.]

Except for Setting Free the Bears, his only novel with European settings and characters, John Irving's novels take place in twentieth-century United Slates, especially Maine and New Hampshire. Irving analyzes contemporary problems and issues plaguing his characters' lives. In addition, random violence and sudden death stalk his fictional worlds, a concept that has its inceptions in Setting Free the Bears.

Set primarily in Vienna, Austria, Bears traces Vienna's history from before the Anschluss (Austria's "union" with Nazi Germany in 1938) to after World War II. While admitting that Bears contains a...

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1. Introduction
2. Principal Works
3. Criticism
   1. Jack Beatty (review date 23 September 1981)
   2. Caryn Fuoroli (review date January 1982)
   3. Evan Carton (essay date Fall 1986)
   4. Janice Doane and Devon Hodges (essay date 1986)
   5. Wendy Steiner (review date 19 May 1989)
   6. Robert Towers (review date 20 July 1989)
   7. Edward C. Reilly (essay date 1991)
   8. Kim McKay (essay date Winter 1992)
   9. Raymond J. Wilson III (essay date Fall 1992)
   10. Irving Weinman (review date 9 April 1993)
   11. Robert Towers (review date 4 September 1994)
   12. Sven Birkerts (review date 4 February 1996)
   13. Andrew Rosenheim (review date 4 February 1996)
4. Further Reading
5. Copyright