John Updike
John Updike (left), receiving the National Medal of Arts from President and Mrs. George H. W. Bush, 17 November 1989
Born	March 18, 1932 (1932-03-18) (age 76) Shillington, Pennsylvania, PA, U.S.A.
Occupation	novelist, short story writer, literary critic
Genres	Modernist literature
Notable work(s)	Rabbit Angstrom
Influences Ernest Hemingway, Henry Green, James Joyce, Franz Kafka, Marcel Proust, Vladimir Nabokov, J. D. Salinger, William Shakespeare, James Thurber[1]

John Hoyer Updike (born March 18, 1932 in Shillington, Pennsylvania) is an American novelist, poet, short story writer and literary critic. Updike's most famous work is his Rabbit series (Rabbit, Run; Rabbit Redux; Rabbit Is Rich; Rabbit At Rest; and Rabbit Remembered). Both Rabbit is Rich and Rabbit at Rest received the Pulitzer Prize. Describing his subject as "the American small town, Protestant middle class," Updike is widely recognized for his careful craftsmanship and prolific output (an extremely rare combination), having published 22 novels and more than a dozen short story collections, as well as poetry, literary criticism and children's books. Hundreds of his stories, reviews, and poems have appeared in The New Yorker since 1954. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The National Medal of Arts is an award and title bestowed on selected honorees by the National Endowment for the Arts. ... George Herbert Walker Bush (born June 12, 1924) was the 41st President of the United States, serving from 1989 to 1993. ... 17 November is also the name of a Marxist group in Greece, coinciding with the anniversary of the Athens Polytechnic uprising. ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 77th day of the year (78th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1932 (MCMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1932 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Shillington is a borough in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. ... This article is about the U.S. State. ... For other uses of terms redirecting here, see US (disambiguation), USA (disambiguation), and United States (disambiguation) Motto In God We Trust(since 1956) (From Many, One; Latin, traditional) Anthem The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City National language English (de facto)1 Demonym American... This article is about work. ... A novel is an extended work of written, narrative, prose fiction, usually in story form; the writer of a novel is a novelist. ... This article is in need of attention. ... A writer is anyone who creates a written work, although the word more usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, or those who have written in many different forms. ... Literary criticism is the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. ... A literary genre is one of the divisions of literature into genres according to particular criteria such as literary technique, tone, or content. ... Modernist literature is the literary form of Modernism and especially High modernism; it should not be confused with modern literature, which is the history of the modern novel and modern poetry as one. ... Rabbit Angstrom is the main character in many of John Updikes novels. ... Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. ... Henry Green was the nom de plume of Henry Vincent Yorke (October 29, 1905-December 13, 1973) . He was born near Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, of an educated family with successful business interests in Birmingham. ... This article is about the writer and poet. ... Kafka redirects here. ... Proust redirects here. ... Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (Russian: Влади́мир Влади́мирович Набо́ков, pronounced ) (April 22 [O.S. April 10] 1899, Saint Petersburg – July 2, 1977, Montreux) was a Russian-American, Academy Award nominated author. ... Jerome David Salinger (born January 1, 1919) (pronounced ) is an American author best known for his 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye and his reclusive nature. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... James Grover Thurber (December 8, 1894–November 2, 1961) was a U.S. humorist and cartoonist. ... is the 77th day of the year (78th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1932 (MCMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1932 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Shillington is a borough in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. ... A novel is an extended work of written, narrative, prose fiction, usually in story form; the writer of a novel is a novelist. ... The poor poet A poet is a person who writes poetry. ... This article is in need of attention. ... A writer is anyone who creates a written work, although the word more usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, or those who have written in many different forms. ... Literary criticism is the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. ... Rabbit, Run is a 1960 novel by John Updike, concerning a former basketball player named Harry Rabbit Angstrom, and his attempts to escape the constraints of his life. ... Rabbit Redux is the 1971 publication of John Updike. ... Rabbit Is Rich is a novel by John Updike. ... Rabbit At Rest is a novel by John Updike. ... Rabbit Remembered is a 2001 novella by John Updike of his Rabbit series, which appeared in his collection of short fiction titled Licks of Love. ... The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction has been awarded since 1948 for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life. ... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... The middle class (or middle classes) comprises a social group once defined by exception as an intermediate social class between the nobility and the peasantry. ... This article is about the art form. ... Literary criticism is the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. ... For other uses, see New Yorker. ...

Early life

As a teenager, Updike was encouraged by his mother, who was also a writer, to write while attending Shillington High School. Updike and his mother had the skin disease psoriasis. Updike grew up in a relatively poor family. Lack of money did not stop him from entering Harvard University on a full scholarship. He served as president of the Harvard Lampoon, before graduating summa cum laude (he wrote a thesis on Robert Herrick) in 1954 with a degree in English. He became a regular contributor to The New Yorker. After Harvard, however he decided to pursue a career in graphic arts. Updike went to The Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art in Oxford. Harvard redirects here. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Latin honors are Latin phrases used to indicate the level of academic distinction with which an academic degree was earned. ... Robert Herrick is the name of two major literary figures: Robert Herrick (poet) (1591-1674) Robert Herrick (novelist) (1868-1938) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Year 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The term English literature refers to literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; Joseph Conrad was Polish, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, Salman Rushdie is Indian, V.S... For other uses, see New Yorker. ... Richard Wentworth, False Ceiling The Ruskin, as it is known, is an experimental art school and research institute at the University of Oxford. ...

Career

Updike has become most famous as a "chronicler of suburban adultery." ("A subject which," he once wrote, "if I have not exhausted, has exhausted me.") Yet on many occasions, Updike has slipped away from familiar territory: The Witches of Eastwick (1984, later made into a movie of the same name) concerned a New England coven of divorcees, and was a bestseller; The Coup (novel) (1978, about a fictional Cold War-era African dictatorship), was similarly a bestseller, and reflects the author writing at his most Nabokovian; his 2000 postmodern effort Gertrude and Claudius is a carefully researched overture to the story of Hamlet. Other important novels include The Centaur (National Book Award, 1963), Couples (1968) and Roger's Version (1986). (Martin Amis called Roger's Version a "near-masterpiece; "Couples" both landed the author on the cover of Time Magazine and made his fortune.) The Witches of Eastwick is a 1984 novel by John Updike. ... This article is about the year. ... The Witches of Eastwick is a 1987 feature film based on the novel of the same title by John Updike. ... Year 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1978 Gregorian calendar). ... For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ... A world map showing the continent of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. ... Forms of government Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box:      A dictatorship is an autocratic form of government in which the government is ruled by a dictator. ... Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). ... Gertrude and Claudius is a 1997 novel by John Updike. ... For other uses, see Hamlet (disambiguation). ... The Centaur is a 1963 novel by John Updike, concerning George Caldwell, a 1940s schoolteacher who yearns to find some meaning in his life. ... For other uses, see 1963 (disambiguation). ... Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar). ... Photo of Martin Amis by Robert Birnbaum Martin Amis (born August 25, 1949) is an English novelist. ... (Clockwise from upper left) Time magazine covers from May 7, 1945; July 25, 1969; December 31, 1999; September 14, 2001; and April 21, 2003. ...

Updike also enjoys working in series: In addition to the four Harry 'Rabbit' Angstrom novels, a recurrent Updike alter-ego is the moderately well-known, unprolific Jewish novelist and eventual Nobel laureate Henry Bech, chronicled in three comic short-story cycles: Bech: A Book (1970), Bech is Back (1981) and Bech At Bay: A Quasi-Novel (1998). His stories involving the socially-conscious (and socially successful) couple "The Maples" are widely considered to be autobiographical, and several were the basis for a television movie entitled Too Far To Go starring Michael Moriarty and Blythe Danner which was broadcast on NBC. Updike stated that he chose this surname for the characters because he admired the beauty and resilience of the tree. The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination of these attributes. ... Year 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... For music albums named Autobiography, see Greek eauton = self, bios = life and graphein = write) is a form of biography, the writing of a life story. ... “Telefilm” redirects here. ... Too Far To Go is a collection of short stories by the American author John Updike published in 1979 and later made into a two-hour television movie on the NBC network with Blythe Danner, Kathryn Walker and Michael Moriarty. ... Michael Moriarty (born April 5, 1941) is a Tony-winning and Emmy-winning American actor. ... Blythe Katherine Danner (born February 3, 1943) is a prolific two time Emmy-winning American actress who has appeared in numerous stage, screen, and film roles. ... This article is about the television network. ...

Updike stated at the dawn of his career an intention to publish one book a year, and advancing years have slowed down neither his production nor inventiveness. In 1994 he rewrote the tale of Tristan and Isolde (Brazil); a multi-generational saga about religion and entertainment In the Beauty of the Lilies, 1996) and a science fiction novel (Toward the end of time, 1997). In Seek My Face (2002) he explored the post-war art scene. In Villages (2004), Updike returned to the familiar territory of infidelities in New England. His twenty-second and most recent novel, Terrorist, the story of a fervent, eighteen-year-old extremist Muslim in New Jersey, was published in June 2006; his sixth collection of non-fiction, "Due Considerations," appeared in the fall of 2007. This article is about the Knight of the Round Table. ... In the Arthurian Legend of Tristan and Iseult (alternatively Isolde, Isode, Isotta, etc. ... In the Beauty of the Lilies is a 1997 novel by John Updike. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... A novel by John Updike, published in 1997. ... For the band, see 1997 (band). ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the region in the United States of America. ... Terrorist is the 22nd novel written by lauded author John Updike. ...

A large anthology of short stories from his literary career, titled The Early Stories 1953–1975 (2003) won the 2004 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. He wrote in its preface that his career's intention had been to "give the mundane its beautiful due." Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction is awarded annually by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation to an American author. ...

Updike has worked in a wide array of genres, including fiction, poetry, essay, and memoir. His lone foray into drama, Buchanan Dying: a play, apparently constituted something of a reversal, since in a 1968 interview Updike claimed that "[t]he unreality of painted people standing on a platform saying things they've said to each other for months is more than I can overlook." He further said: "From Twain to James and Faulkner to Bellow, the history of novelists as playwrights is a sad one."

In 2006 Updike was awarded the Rea Award for the Short Story for outstanding achievement in that genre. The Rea Award for the Short Story is an annual award given to an American author chosen for unusually significant contributions to American short story fiction. ...

Updike has four children and currently lives in Beverly Farms, Massachusetts with his second wife, Martha. In his memoir,Self Consciousness, Updike writes a letter to his Grandsons Anoff and Kwame, about the Updike family history, and asks that they not be ashamed of their skin. (His grandsons are half black, their father being from West Africa.) Beverly Farms is an informally defined neighborhood at the eastern edge of the city of Beverly, Massachusetts. ...

Cultural references

• Updike was the subject of a so-called "closed book examination" by Nicholson Baker, entitled U and I (Random House, 1991). Baker discusses his wish to meet Updike and become his golf partner.
• In an episode of the animated series The Simpsons, "Insane Clown Poppy", John Updike is the ghost writer of a book that Krusty the clown is promoting. The book's title is "Your Shoes Too Big To Kickbox God," a 20-page book written entirely by John Updike as a money-making scam.
• A villain in Peter Staub's and Stephen King's collaborative novel The Talisman (1984) is named "Smokey Updike"; this is thought to be a sort of reverse homage.

Nicholson Baker (born January 7, 1957) is a contemporary American novelist. ... Simpsons redirects here. ... Insane Clown Poppy is the third episode of the twelfth season of The Simpsons. ... Krusty redirects here. ... The Talisman is a 1984 fantasy novel by Stephen King and Peter Straub. ...

Criticism

Martin Amis has proven a sharp critic of Updike. On the essay collection Picked-Up Pieces ("Updike's view of twentieth-century literature is a levelling one. Talent, like life, should be available to all"), the memoir Self-Consciousness ("the last section of the book, 'On Being a Self Forever', is to my knowledge the best thing yet written on what it is like to get older: age, and the only end of age"), Rabbit at Rest ("this novel is enduringly eloquent about weariness, age and disgust, in a prose that is always fresh, nubile and unwitherable"), and Odd Jobs: Essays and Criticism ("there is a trundling quality, increasingly indulged: too much trolley-car nostalgia and baseball-mitt Americana, too much ancestor worship, too much piety"). Photo of Martin Amis by Robert Birnbaum Martin Amis (born August 25, 1949) is an English novelist. ...

Quotations

The great thing about the dead, they make space. (Rabbit is Rich) Rabbit Is Rich is a novel by John Updike. ...

Rabbit loves men, uncomplaining with their bellies and cross-hatched red necks, embarrassed for what to talk about when the game is over, whatever the game is. What a threadbare thing we make of life! Yet what a marvelous thing the mind is, they can't make a machine like it; and the body can do a thousand things there isn't a factory in the world can duplicate the motion. (Rabbit is Rich) Rabbit Is Rich is a novel by John Updike. ...

Tell your mother, if she asks, that maybe we'll meet some other time. Under the pear trees, in Paradise. (Rabbit at Rest) Rabbit At Rest is a novel by John Updike. ...

Of plants tomatoes seemed the most human, eager and fragile and prone to rot. (The Witches of Eastwick) The Witches of Eastwick is a 1984 novel by John Updike. ...

We all dream, and we all stand aghast at the mouth of the caves of our deaths; and this is our way in. Into the nether world. ((The Witches of Eastwick) The Witches of Eastwick is a 1984 novel by John Updike. ...

An Irish temper makes you appreciate Lutherans. (Terrorist) This article is becoming very long. ...

Fenway Park, in Boston, is a lyric little bandbox of a ballpark. ("Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu," The New Yorker, 1960)

Gods do not answer letters. ("Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu," The New Yorker, 1960)

He had met the little death that awaits athletes. He had retired. ("Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu," The New Yorker, 1960)

My mother had dreams of being a writer and I used to see her type in the front room. The front room is also where I would go when I was sick so I would sit there and watch her. (2004 interview with Academy of Achievement (source: http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/upd0int-1))

Black is a shade of brown. So is white, if you look. (Brazil)

Freedom is a blanket which, pulled up to the chin, uncovers the feet. (The Coup)

Fame is a mask that eats into the face. (Self-Consciousness)

Masturbation! Thou saving grace note upon the baffled chord of self. (A Month of Sundays)

Literary works

Rabbit novels

• (1960) Rabbit, Run
• (1971) Rabbit Redux
• (1981) Rabbit Is Rich
• (1990) Rabbit At Rest
• (2001) Rabbit Remembered

Rabbit, Run is a 1960 novel by John Updike, concerning a former basketball player named Harry Rabbit Angstrom, and his attempts to escape the constraints of his life. ... Rabbit Redux is the 1971 publication of John Updike. ... Rabbit Is Rich is a novel by John Updike. ... Rabbit At Rest is a novel by John Updike. ... Rabbit Remembered is a 2001 novella by John Updike of his Rabbit series, which appeared in his collection of short fiction titled Licks of Love. ...

Bech books

• (1970) Bech, a Book
• (1982) Bech Is Back
• (1998) Bech at Bay

Henry Bech is a fictional character created by American author John Updike. ... Henry Bech is a fictional character created by American author John Updike. ...

Buchanan books

• (1974) Buchanan Dying (a play)
• (1992) Memories of the Ford Administration (a novel)

Memories of the Ford Administration is a 1992 novel by John Updike. ...

Other novels

• (1959) The Poorhouse Fair
• (1963) The Centaur
• (1965) Of The Farm
• (1968) Couples
• (1975) A Month Of Sundays
• (1977) Marry Me (A Romance)
• (1978) The Coup
• (1984) The Witches of Eastwick
• (1986) Roger's Version
• (1988) S.
• (1994) Brazil
• (1996) In the Beauty of the Lilies
• (1997) Toward the End of Time
• (2000) Gertrude and Claudius
• (2002) Seek My Face
• (2004) Villages
• (2006) Terrorist
• (2008) The Widows of Eastwick

The Poorhouse Fair (1959) was the first novel by the American author John Updike. ... The Centaur is a 1963 novel by John Updike, concerning George Caldwell, a 1940s schoolteacher who yearns to find some meaning in his life. ... Of the Farm is a 1965 novel by the American author John Updike. ... Couples is a 1968 novel by John Updike which focuses on a promiscuous circle of married friends in the fictional Boston suburb of Tarbox. ... The subject of this article may not satisfy the notability guideline or one of the following guidelines for inclusion on Wikipedia: Biographies, Books, Companies, Fiction, Music, Neologisms, Numbers, Web content, or several proposals for new guidelines. ... The Witches of Eastwick is a 1984 novel by John Updike. ... In the Beauty of the Lilies is a 1997 novel by John Updike. ... A novel by John Updike, published in 1997. ... Gertrude and Claudius is a 1997 novel by John Updike. ... Terrorist is the 22nd novel written by lauded author John Updike. ...

Short Story Collections

• (1959) The Same Door
• (1962) Pigeon Feathers
• (1964) Olinger Stories (a selection)
• (1966) The Music School
• (1972) Museums And Women
• (1979) Problems
• (1979) Too Far To Go (related short stories about a single family)
• (1987) Trust Me
• (1994) The Afterlife
• (2000) The Best American Short Stories of the Century (editor)
• (2001) Licks of Love
• (2003) The Early Stories: 1953-1975

Pigeon feathers is an early collection of short stories by John Updike. ... Too Far To Go is a collection of short stories by the American author John Updike published in 1979 and later made into a two-hour television movie on the NBC network with Blythe Danner, Kathryn Walker and Michael Moriarty. ...

Poetry

• (1958) The Carpentered Hen
• (1963) Telephone Poles
• (1969) Midpoint
• (1977) Tossing and Turning
• (1985) Facing Nature
• (1993) Collected Poems 1953-1993
• (2001) Americana: and Other Poems

Non-fiction, essays and criticism

• (1965) Assorted Prose
• (1975) Picked-Up Pieces
• (1983) Hugging The Shore
• (1989) Self-Consciousness: Memoirs
• (1989) Just Looking
• (1991) Odd Jobs
• (1996) Golf Dreams: Writings on Golf
• (1999) More Matter
• (2005) Still Looking: Essays on American Art
• (2007) Due Considerations: Essays and Criticism

References

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 191st day of the year (192nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

John Updike

• The Centaurian - Website dedicated to information about Updike
• Brief biography at Kirjasto
• 1984 Audio Interview with John Updike by Don Swaim at Wired for Books] at Wired for Books.
• New York Times page on Updike reviews
• Joyce Carol Oates on John Updike
• "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu" (The New Yorker, 1960)
• John Updike interviewed by Ginny Dougary (2002)
• "Superman" by John Updike
• "The Ex-Basketball Player" by John Updike
• In Depth with John Updike from CSPAN Dec. 2005