John Irving uses a unique style when writing A Prayer for Owen Meany. The author and editor Debra Shostak noticed Irving's "repetitive plot", visible throughout several of his novels.[3] Irving gave two possible explanations for this, writing about the "order" this brings to a plot, instead of it being "chaotic and corny". This repetition also serves to place emphasis on certain key events and ideas. Irving described his writing process by saying, "I have the last chapters in my mind before I see the first chapters...I usually begin with endings, a sense of aftermath, of dust settling, of epilogue. I love plot, and how can you plot a novel if you don't know the ending first?"[3] Bernstein also notes that Irving "strives for big novels in the 19th-century manner-eventful, heavily peopled stories of the sort...that you don't see much anymore."[4] Another hallmark of the novel's style is that Irving writes Owen's dialogue in all-capital letters.[5]
This content is from Wikipedia. GradeSaver is providing this content as a courtesy until we can offer a professionally written study guide by one of our staff editors. We do not consider this content professional or citable. Please use your discretion when relying on it.
