Bloody fingers; New American fiction; New fiction from John Irving.(Books and Arts)(Review)(Brief Article)

Economist (US), The, June, 2001

The Fourth Hand.

ALONG with other heavy-hitters such as John Updike and Norman Mailer, John Irving has made much public hay out of decrying Tom Wolfe's last novel "A Man in Full" for not being real literature. Accordingly, he's marked himself as fair game.

If such distinctions can be made, then Mr Irving's twelfth book, "The Fourth Hand," is no more real literature than the croissan'wich is haute cuisine.

Mr Irving's earlier work may not have been especially lofty either, but his novels from the 1970s-"The Water-Method Man" and "The ...