Greatness in writing

John Updike. (March 18, 1932–January 27, 2009) wasn’t merely the recipient of two Pulitzer Prizes and a National Humanities medal, among a wealth of other awards. He had a mind that could ponder the origin of the universe, a heart that could eulogize a dog with such beautiful bitter-sweetness, and a spirit that could look on death without fear.

Describing his subject as "the American small town, Protestant middle class," Updike was well recognized for his careful craftsmanship and his unique prose style.

He is also credited with making suburban sex sexy, which landed him on the cover of Time magazine after "Couples" in 1968 in under the headline “The Adulterous Society” — something Adam Begley explores in the long-awaited new biography Updike.

This book chronicles Updike’s escapades in Ipswich, Massachusetts, in the early 1960s, just as he was breaking through with The New Yorker — the bastion of high culture to which he had dreamed of contributing since the age of twelve.

His literary career began to gain momentum with the publication of Rabbit, Run in 1960 — the fictional story of a twenty-something suburban writer who, drowning in responsibilities to his young family, finds love outside of marriage. That fantasy would soon become a reality for the 28-year-old Updike himself, a country boy who had gotten through Harvard by playing the class clown dressed in his ill-fitted tweed jackets and unfashionably wide ties.

I love all Updike's work, -his novels, short stories and book reviews. The Rabbit novels especially, which are a unique social chronicle of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, a wonderful mix of the poetic, coarse, witty, and lyrical.