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Trying to Save Piggy Sneed

Trying to Save Piggy Sneed

Auteur John Irving
Eerste Uitgave1993
Uitgave1993
UitgeverijBlack Swan
Vormkortverhalen
TaalEngels
Bladzijden221 bladzijden
Gelezen1999-07-18
Score8/10

Inhoud

Here is a treat for John Irving addicts and a perfect introduction to his work for the uninitiated. In his spirited opening piece, Irving explains how he became a writer: "A fiction writer's memory is an especially imperfect provider of detail; we can always imagine a better detail than the one we can remember. The correct detail is rarely exactly what happened the most thruthful detail is what could have happened, or what should have... Being a writer is a strenuous mariage between careful observation and just as carefully imagining the truths you haven't had the opportunity to see. The rest is the necessary strict toiling with the language..."

Bespreking

Irving can do a lot better than this

'Trying to Save Piggy Sneed' is a short story collection that brings together seven stories written between 1973 and 1993. In the title story, for example, Irving explains how he became a writer. 'The Pension Grillparzer', previously only to be found inside 'The World According to Garp', has been given an independent airing. The collection ends with a homage to Charles Dickens.

The saddest thing about this collection is that it is in no way a showcase of the enormous talent of John Irving. Nevertheless, this is exactly what the cover promises. A few of the stories like 'Interior Space', 'Weary Kingdom' and 'The Pension Grillparzer' are quite entertaining, but still miss the true spirit of his novels. Most of these stories finish without even reaching some kind of clue. The book ends with some kind of non-fiction essay on Charles Dickens: a boring addition which no one was waiting for. The conclusion is clear: Irving should keep to writing full-featured novels, so he can develop his characters in his own personal way and make the most bizarre story lines that fascinate the reader from cover to cover.

The stories in this collection are: Almost in Iowa, Brennbar's Rant, Interior Space, Other People's Dreams, The King of the Novel, The Pension Grillparzer, Trying to Save Piggy Sneed and Weary Kingdom.