[net.followup] JHD/Garp Syndrome

svw (07/30/82)

About the Joseph Heller Disease, which someone described as when
the work of an author or some other creative type is the only
excellent (or even good) one he creates. This is **NOT** meant to rehash
the mistakes the original newsreader made when he wrote in ,
but...have you ever heard of "Setting Free The Bears"? or "The
Water-Method Man"? "The 158-pound Marriage"? Of course not. These
are the books John Irving wrote before "The World According to
Garp". That newsreader was wrong; "Garp" was not Irving's first.
	The reason I bring that up is that maybe, when an author
writes one famous book, people may assume its his first because
they've never heard of him before. This would make the
Joseph Heller Disease seem more widespread than it  is.