The World According To Garp - Cultural References

Cultural References

• Garp's school is based on the Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire, of which Irving is an alumnus. His stepfather was a faculty member.
• T.S. Garp's writing career resembles John Irving's own early career. Garp's first novel is about freeing animals from the Vienna Zoo, similar to Setting Free the Bears. Garp's second novel is about wife-swapping, similar to The 158-Pound Marriage, with some similarities to The Water-Method Man. Garp's third novel is called The World According to Bensenhaver, the novel's protagonist, and is about "lust" (according to Jenny). Coincidentally, Garp's third novel is a best-seller, like The World According to Garp itself. Garp (presumably speaking for Irving) ridicules the idea that his third novel is autobiographical.
• Ellen James Society, a rock band from Atlanta, took their name from a women's group in the novel.