Rabbit Redux

Rabbit Redux
Name	Rabbit Redux
Author	John Updike
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Rabbit Angstrom
Genre	Novel
Publisher	Alfred A. Knopf
Pub date	1971
Media type	Print
Pages	416
Preceded by	Rabbit, Run
Followed by	Rabbit Is Rich

Rabbit Redux is a 1971 novel by John Updike and the second installment in the Rabbit Angstrom series, continuing the life of former high school basketball star Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom. The novel situates Rabbit within the cultural and political shifts of the late 1960s in America, exploring personal malaise against the backdrop of national unrest, racial tensions, and evolving social mores. Updike's work engages with contemporaneous figures and movements, reflecting influences from James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and the postwar literary scene centered on publications like The New Yorker.

Plot

The narrative follows Harry Angstrom, a struggling former salesman in the fictional city of Brearley, who faces marital estrangement from his wife Janice and the ennui of middle age. Seeking distraction, Rabbit reunites with his adolescent friend Gordie, drifts into an affair with a young free spirit named Jill (a former model and part-time student at local institutions), and becomes an unexpected guardian to an African American teenager, Smitty, caught between urban migration and suburban expectations. Subplots interweave with events such as local election campaigns involving figures from the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, neighborhood debates reflecting post-Civil Rights Movement tensions, and scenes set in venues invoking Madison Square Garden, suburban malls, and provincial diners frequented by characters like Kenny and Terry. The plot culminates in violent confrontations reflecting societal unrest, personal betrayals involving Janice and Rabbit, and decisions that propel the series into the subsequent volume.

Characters

Principal characters include Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom, a former athlete and product salesman whose identity is entwined with mid-20th-century American masculinity; Janice, his practical and increasingly distant wife; Jill, the liberated younger woman who embodies countercultural currents associated with figures like Abbie Hoffman and organizations akin to the Yippies; and Smitty, the adolescent who channels the urban experience of migration to suburbs, resonant with demographic shifts described by scholars of the Great Migration. Secondary figures range from friends and co-workers to political actors such as local aldermen and school officials paralleling personalities found in municipal politics like those of Richard J. Daley or Mayor John Lindsay. The book populates its world with a cross-section of American society linked by institutions such as the American Legion, churches reflecting denominations like Methodist Church congregations, and educational settings resembling campuses like Princeton University or community colleges.

Themes and analysis

Updike probes themes of identity, masculinity, race, and sexuality while mapping Rabbit's interior life against macro-historical shifts including the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the cultural upheavals epitomized by the Summer of Love. The novel interrogates suburban alienation mirrored in sociological studies from agencies like the United States Census Bureau and cultural commentary appearing in periodicals such as Time (magazine) and The New Republic. Updike examines race relations through Smitty's perspective and Rabbit's interactions, engaging with contemporary debates involving leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and organizations such as the NAACP. Gender and generational conflict are dramatized vis-à-vis the sexual revolution, with allusions to authors and activists including Betty Friedan and texts like The Feminine Mystique. The novel also contemplates consumer culture and corporate life, evoking companies similar to General Motors and retail landscapes akin to McDonald's and suburban shopping centers.

Style and language

Updike's prose is frequently compared to modernist predecessors such as James Joyce and Virginia Woolf for its free indirect discourse and stylistic shifts; critics also note echoes of John Steinbeck and Hemingway. The novel employs richly descriptive sentences, vivid metaphors, and close third-person focalization that renders Rabbit's consciousness in detail reminiscent of techniques used by contributors to The New Yorker and novelists of the mid-20th century. Linguistic registers range from colloquial Midwestern speech—paralleling dialect studies in regions like Pennsylvania and Ohio—to elevated synesthetic passages, creating tonal contrasts that critics have linked to the prose of William Faulkner and Saul Bellow.

Reception and criticism

Upon publication, the novel received reviews in outlets such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic Monthly, sparking debate over Updike's portrayals of race, class, and sexuality. Praise centered on narrative craft and observational acuity, earning Updike recognition including the National Book Award shortlist and subsequent inclusion in discussions leading to his receipt of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for later works. Detractors criticized perceived racial stereotyping and structural indulgence, with commentators from publications like The Nation and critics such as Harold Bloom and Ralph Ellison (whose own novel Invisible Man revolutionized portrayals of African American interiority) shaping discourse. Academic treatments in journals of Harvard University, Yale University, and Columbia University situate the novel within American postwar letters and studies of the 1960s.

Adaptations and legacy

Rabbit Redux influenced subsequent American fiction and adaptations in theater and screen, informing portrayals of suburban malaise in films by directors like Robert Altman and John Cassavetes. Staged readings and radio dramatizations have appeared on platforms associated with institutions such as The Public Theater and public broadcasters like NPR. The novel's legacy endures in curricula at universities including Brown University, University of Pennsylvania, and Stanford University, and it shaped perceptions of Updike's Rabbit cycle that culminated in later volumes and accolades from bodies like the Library of America. Rabbit Redux remains a touchstone in debates about representation and realism in late 20th-century American literature.

Category:1971 novels Category:Novels by John Updike Category:American novels