A Prayer for Owen Meany

A Prayer for Owen Meany
	First edition
Author	John Irving
Cover artist	Honi Werner
Language	English
Genre	Bildungsroman
Publisher	William Morrow
Publication date	March 1989
Publication place	United States
Pages	617
ISBN	0-688-07708-0
OCLC	18557147
Preceded by	The Cider House Rules
Followed by	A Son of the Circus

A Prayer for Owen Meany is the seventh novel by American writer John Irving. Published in 1989, it tells the story of John Wheelwright and his best friend Owen Meany growing up together in a small New Hampshire town during the 1950s and 1960s. According to John's narration, Owen is a remarkable boy in many ways; he believes himself to be God's instrument and sets out to fulfill the fate he has prophesied for himself.

The novel is also an homage to Günter Grass's most famous novel, The Tin Drum. Grass was a great influence for John Irving, as well as a close friend. The main characters of both novels, Owen Meany and Oskar Matzerath, share the same initials as well as some other characteristics, and their stories show some parallels.^[1] Irving has confirmed the similarities.^[2] A Prayer for Owen Meany, however, follows an independent and separate plot.

^
More precisely, the main character of The Tin Drum, Oskar Matzerath, appears split into Owen Meany and John Wheelwright in Irving's book. Many parallels between the characters Owen/John and Oscar are listed on this German website Archived 2012-06-07 at the Wayback Machine, the most obvious being
- Body size
- "Broken" voice
- Both display supernatural powers (Oskar by his own choice stops growing at the age of 3/Owen foresees his future)
- Absence of father (Oskar and John)
- Both work as stonemasons producing gravestones
- Oskar compares himself to Jesus, Owen impersonates him
- Oskar and Owen are improbably intelligent and articulate, even as children
- A war is central to both stories
- Both stories are told in retrospection as well as in present tense
- Oskar prevents an execution by drumming (for which he had trained all his life); Owen prevents the killing of Vietnamese children by applying a basketball shot (for which he had trained all his life)
^ See e.g., Irving's NYT article A Soldier Once about Grass' autobiography Peeling the Onion, 8 July 2007.

[1] More precisely, the main character of The Tin Drum, Oskar Matzerath, appears split into Owen Meany and John Wheelwright in Irving's book. Many parallels between the characters Owen/John and Oscar are listed on this German website Archived 2012-06-07 at the Wayback Machine, the most obvious being
Body size

"Broken" voice

Both display supernatural powers (Oskar by his own choice stops growing at the age of 3/Owen foresees his future)

Absence of father (Oskar and John)

Both work as stonemasons producing gravestones

Oskar compares himself to Jesus, Owen impersonates him

Oskar and Owen are improbably intelligent and articulate, even as children

A war is central to both stories

Both stories are told in retrospection as well as in present tense

Oskar prevents an execution by drumming (for which he had trained all his life); Owen prevents the killing of Vietnamese children by applying a basketball shot (for which he had trained all his life)

[2] Body size

[3] "Broken" voice

[4] Both display supernatural powers (Oskar by his own choice stops growing at the age of 3/Owen foresees his future)

[5] Absence of father (Oskar and John)

[6] Both work as stonemasons producing gravestones

[7] Oskar compares himself to Jesus, Owen impersonates him

[8] Oskar and Owen are improbably intelligent and articulate, even as children

[9] A war is central to both stories

[10] Both stories are told in retrospection as well as in present tense

[11] Oskar prevents an execution by drumming (for which he had trained all his life); Owen prevents the killing of Vietnamese children by applying a basketball shot (for which he had trained all his life)

[2] See e.g., Irving's NYT article A Soldier Once about Grass' autobiography Peeling the Onion, 8 July 2007.

[1]

[2]