While Excavating Past, John Irving Finds His Family [NYT blogerated link].

I am a profoundly reluctant admirer of Irving’s work – I still find it gratingly self-absorbed – but this article unlocks some persistent themes in the man’s work, and I cannot help but be transfixed by the tragic narrative associated with his absent father and the conflict stemming from loyalty and love to his adoptive parent. I’m grateful that my own questions about who I am and where I come from are not subject to the complications of knowing one biological parent and not another.