John Updike dead at 76
John Updike, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, prolific man of letters and erudite chronicler of sex, divorce and other adventures in the postwar prime of the American empire, died Tuesday at age 76, the AP said. Updike, a resident of Beverly Farms, Mass., died of lung cancer, according to a statement from his publisher, Alfred A. Knopf. (You can pay tribute with a comment here or at legacy.com.)
A literary writer who frequently appeared on best-seller lists, the tall, hawk-nosed Updike wrote novels, short stories, poems, criticism, the memoir "Self-Consciousness" and even a famous essay about baseball great Ted Williams. He was prolific, even compulsive, releasing more than 50 books in a career that started in the 1950s. Updike won virtually every literary prize, including two Pulitzers, for "Rabbit Is Rich" and "Rabbit at Rest," and two National Book Awards. His most recent work was The Widows of Eastwick, reviewed here. ...
He captured, and sometimes embodied, a generation's confusion over the civil rights and women's movements, and opposition to the Vietnam War. Updike was called a misogynist, a racist and an apologist for the establishment. On purely literary grounds, he was attacked by Norman Mailer as the kind of author appreciated by readers who knew nothing about writing.
But more often he was praised for his flowing, poetic writing style. Describing a man's interrupted quest to make love, Updike likened it "to a small angel to which all afternoon tiny lead weights are attached." Nothing was too great or too small for Updike to poeticize. He might rhapsodize over the film projector's "chuckling whir" or look to the stars and observe that "the universe is perfectly transparent: we exist as flaws in ancient glass." ...
He received his greatest acclaim for the "Rabbit" series, a quartet of novels published over a 30-year span that featured ex-high school basketball star Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom and his restless adjustment to adulthood and the constraints of work and family.
Comments
John Updike's "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu" is the worst piece of literary crap I've ever read. Using excessively flowery verbiage, he godded up an individual who didn't exactly deserve it (actually, no one does). He callously addressed Brooks Robinson as simply "the Oriole third baseman," as though he was nameless & faceless.
This Updike essay reminded me of a cartoon in Playboy magazine in the early 1990s. In it a catcher confronts his pitcher on the mound, declaring, "No, I do not think baseball is ******* poetry!" Ironic, considering that excerpts from a few of Updike's works appeared in the same publication.
Posted by: Attila the Hon | January 27, 2009 8:40 PM
Everyone at the Enoch Pratt Free Library is saddened by the death of author John Updike. There are not enough superlatives to describe this writer who has won most literary awards out there. We were much honored to have Mr. Updike as a special guest at the Central Library in 2000 when he received the Pratt's Lifetime Literary Achievement Award. Many Pratt staff members are recalling meeting with this prolific and outstanding writer. The literary world has lost a priceless gem.
Thanks for a wonderful post on Read Street.
Posted by: Roswell Encina | January 28, 2009 12:45 PM
I crossed paths with John Updike over 30 years ago after he spoke at Harvard University. Putting myself through school in Boston, I had obtained my living space in the attic of a Harvard housemaster's residence in exchange for work. On nights and weekends I cooked and served food at parties held at the house when noted authors or other VIPs came to speak. The only thing I remember about Updike is that he was tall and was polite when served! I was too busy in the kitchen to notice anything else.
Posted by: Nicole Schultheis | January 29, 2009 2:36 PM
the loss of John Updike makes me wonder if the literary world is being replenished at the same rate that it's losing such great writers
Posted by: coffee | January 30, 2009 2:13 AM
John Updike é o Balzac da classe média americana
http://www.revistabula.com/
http://www.revistabula.com/materia/john-updike-e-o-balzac-da-classe-media-americana-/950
Posted by: Marcela | February 2, 2009 8:41 PM