The World According to Garp  The World According to Garp is John Irving's fourth novel, about a man, born out of wedlock to a feminist leader, who grows up to be a writer. Published in 1978, the book was a bestseller for several years. It was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction in 1979, and its first paperback edition won the Award the following year. A movie adaptation of the novel starring Robin Williams was released in 1982, with a screenplay written by Steve Tesich. BBC Radio 4's "Classic Serial" broadcast a three-part adaptation of the novel by Linda Marshall Griffiths in January 2014. The production was directed by Nadia Molinari and featured Miranda Richardson as Jenny, Lee Ingleby as Garp, Jonathan Keeble as Roberta and Lyndsey Marshal as Helen. On 3 November 2015, Irving revealed that he'd been approached by HBO and Warner Brothers to reconstruct "The World According to Garp" as a miniseries. He described the project as being in the early stages. According to the byline of a self-penned, 20 February 2017 essay for "The Hollywood Reporter", Irving completed his teleplay for the five-part series based on "The World According to Garp". The novel is about the life of T. S. Garp. His mother, Jenny Fields, is a strong-willed nurse who wants a child but not a husband. She encounters a dying ball turret gunner known only as Technical Sergeant Garp, who was severely brain damaged in combat. Jenny nurses Garp, observing his infantile state and almost perpetual autonomic sexual arousal. As a matter of practicality and kindness in making his death as comfortable as possible and reducing his agitation, she masturbates him several times. Unconstrained by convention and driven by her desire for a child, Jenny has sex with the brain-damaged Garp, impregnates herself and names the resulting son "T. S." (a name derived from "Technical Sergeant", but consisting of just initials). Jenny raises young Garp alone, taking a position at the all-boys Steering School in New England. Garp grows up, becoming interested in sex, wrestling, and writing fiction—three topics in which his mother has little interest. After his graduation in 1961, his mother takes him to Vienna, where he writes his first novella. At the same time, his mother begins writing her autobiography, "A Sexual Suspect". After Jenny and Garp return to Steering, Garp marries Helen, the wrestling coach's daughter, and begins his family—he a struggling writer, she a teacher of English.