In return to Iowa City, author John Irving says he's still writing

One of the defining voices in American literature, John Irving, recalled his deep Iowa City ties Friday, Oct. 13 in a wide-ranging talk that delighted a sold-out Hancher Auditorium audience as he weaved from memories of a legendary long-ago bar fight to the author's reading of selections from a still-in-the-works forthcoming novel — his 16th.

The National Book Award winner who broke onto the American letters scene more than a half-century ago went heavily local in the Hancher conversation with stories about living at three places in Iowa City — including the current home of the director of the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop, Lan Samantha Chang, who interviewed Irving on stage before 800 people. Irving now lives in Toronto.

"I've not had a happier experience in school, in any school, at any level of education, that's comparable to what my time was here as a student," Irving, an alum of the writers' workshop, said. "And it was the best teaching job I had, too, as I had the best students."

Chang described being a fan of Irving as a teenager in Appleton, Wisconsin. She discovered a copy of "The World According To Garp," one of Irving's first novels and among his most celebrated, in the bleachers near where she played in a high school orchestra. Chang read "the book to shreds" and showed the Scotch-taped paperback copy to Irving, now 81.

"I did not know at the time that not only would I end up living in the same city as its author, but that I would live in the exact same house you were living in when you wrote 'The World According To Garp.'" Chang said. "I now live in Iowa City in the house right behind the stop sign, and this feels like what I call an Iowa City writing experience."

"The World According to Garp" hit bookstands in 1978 and later became a movie and star vehicle for actor Robin Williams.

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Irving recalls memories with Kurt Vonnegut

The rapt audience hinged on observations about life and literature from Irving, a protégé of Kurt Vonnegut, when the late author taught at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop.

In fact, Chang relayed an audience question about the alleged story of a bar fight Irving had with a critic of Vonnegut who had suggested the legendary writer of such works as "Slaughterhouse-Five" and "Cat's Cradle," was no more than a mere "science-fiction hack." Is there any truth to the "rumor floating around Iowa City" that Irving "decked" the "mouthy barfly" in defense of Vonnegut's honor, Chang asked.

"Well, OK, I don't see it quite that way," Irving said. "Something like that happened. In the first place, you don't use the word 'decked' with wrestlers. Wrestlers don't deck people —  we break their arms or we take their knees out of socket. Those things are a lot easier to do and they don't do any sort of permanent life damage."

Irving said writers like Vonnegut are often the most controversial because they are funny.

"The writers who make enemies as well as friends are the funniest," Irving said.

As for the encounter at the bar?

"It wasn't a big deal," Irving said. "The person was not seriously hurt. It wasn't a big deal. It was only remembered because there were some people there and everyone knew who Kurt was."

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Inspiration is traced back to family

Where you find him in fierce defense of the marginalized as a writer, there's a reason, and it's rooted in his family, Irving said.

Irving's mother was a nurses' aide in a county family counseling service who talked to young, unmarried women who were pregnant — many of whom were girls too young to be having sex.

"She was, my mother, an abortion-rights advocate before abortion rights advocacy had a name," Irving said. "It was her work that she brought home at the end of the day."

Irving grew up with a brother and sister, who were younger and twins, and both gay, he said.

"Recognizing the intolerance shown to them, recognizing how they were more vulnerable, more likely to be threatened, I took to being an ally to so-called sexual outsiders because it was a part of my family's life," said Irving, who grew up in Exeter, New Hampshire.

Irving addresses politics

The most political question of the evening came from an audience member who asked Irving if, as a former wrestler and someone who cares about America, he had any thoughts on U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a conservative firebrand at the center of turmoil in the speaker-less House — and a potential Speaker of the House himself.

Jordan was a two-time NCAA wrestling champion at the University of Wisconsin. Irving was a high school and college wrestler and coach — and is in the National Wrestling Hall Of Fame.

"Because I am partial to Big 10 wrestling, I remember being happy for Jim Jordan when he won those NCAA titles for Wisconsin," Irving said. "I don't believe I have wished him well since."

The line drew some of the most sustained applause of the evening for Irving.

The American author isn't done quite yet

Back to literature, Irving said he has more novels in him, perhaps three or four, and he previewed developing excerpts. But the coming books will be shorter, he said, noting the years of arduous preparation he put into such works as "Cider House Rules" as a younger man.

"The furthest the thing is from your own personal experience, those are the ones that, I think, sort of, get in your soul and stay with you because you had to put yourself through a kind of learning that's much more extensive than anything you did in school, anything I did in school," he said.

Irving said the working title of his next book is "Honor's Child." 'Honor' is the name of a character in the book.

"Honor's child is not her's," Irving said. "She is the mother of the child, the only mother the child knows and loves. But she did not give birth to the child. That's of more importance later in the novel than it is when you begin."

Irving said "Honor's Child" is the first of his novels in which he has gone back to fictional characters in previous works, giving them appearances in a second of his books.

He did not provide an estimated release date of "Honor's Child."

Douglas Burns is the former co-owner of the Carroll Times Herald. He's been a well-respected Iowa journalist for several decades.

This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Cider House Rules author John Irving reflects on local ties in Iowa City visit