John Updike

John Updike
Gotfryd, Bernard, photographer · Public domain · source
Name	John Updike
Birth date	March 18, 1932
Birth place	Reading, Pennsylvania
Death date	January 27, 2009
Death place	Danvers, Massachusetts
Occupation	Novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic

John Updike was a renowned American novelist, poet, and short story writer, known for his insightful and nuanced portrayals of American middle class life, as seen in the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. His writing often explored the complexities of Protestantism and the American Dream, as reflected in the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Mark Twain. Updike's literary career spanned over five decades, during which he was associated with the Harvard University-based The New Yorker magazine, and was influenced by the likes of Vladimir Nabokov and Jorge Luis Borges. His contributions to American literature have been compared to those of William Faulkner and Toni Morrison.

Early Life and Education

Updike was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, to a family of Dutch Americans and English Americans, and spent his childhood in the nearby town of Shillington, Pennsylvania. He developed an interest in writing at an early age, inspired by the works of P.G. Wodehouse and Robert Benchley, and attended Harvard University, where he was a member of the Hasty Pudding Club and the Lamda Chi Alpha fraternity. During his time at Harvard, he was influenced by the teachings of Archibald MacLeish and Harry Levin, and was a contemporary of Norman Mailer and Gore Vidal. Updike's early writing was also shaped by his experiences at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art in Oxford, England, where he studied under the guidance of Kenneth Clark and Stephen Spender.

Career

Updike's literary career began in the 1950s, when he started writing for The New Yorker magazine, where he was influenced by the editorial style of William Shawn and Katherine White. His early work was characterized by its lyricism and attention to detail, as seen in the stories of J.D. Salinger and Saul Bellow. Updike's first novel, The Poorhouse Fair, was published in 1959, and was followed by Rabbit, Run in 1960, which introduced the character of Harry Angstrom and explored themes of marriage and adultery in suburban America, as reflected in the works of Richard Yates and John Cheever. Throughout his career, Updike was associated with the New York City literary scene, and was friends with writers such as Joseph Heller and Kurt Vonnegut.

Literary Style and Themes

Updike's writing style was characterized by its use of lyricism and symbolism, as seen in the works of James Joyce and Virginia Woolf. His fiction often explored themes of identity, morality, and the human condition, as reflected in the works of Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre. Updike's writing was also influenced by his interest in art criticism, and he wrote extensively on the works of Pablo Picasso and Jackson Pollock. His literary style was compared to that of Gustave Flaubert and Marcel Proust, and he was praised for his ability to capture the nuances of American culture, as seen in the works of Sinclair Lewis and Booth Tarkington.

Major Works

Updike's major works include the Rabbit series, which consists of Rabbit, Run, Rabbit Redux, Rabbit is Rich, and Rabbit at Rest. These novels follow the life of Harry Angstrom and explore themes of marriage, adultery, and the American Dream, as reflected in the works of Theodore Dreiser and John Steinbeck. Updike also wrote several other notable novels, including The Centaur, Couples, and In the Beauty of the Lilies, which explore themes of identity, morality, and the human condition, as seen in the works of Fyodor Dostoevsky and Leo Tolstoy. His short story collections, such as Pigeon Feathers and Olinger Stories, are also highly regarded, and have been compared to the works of Anton Chekhov and Alice Munro.

Awards and Legacy

Updike received numerous awards and honors for his writing, including the Pulitzer Prize for Rabbit is Rich and Rabbit at Rest. He was also awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1989, and was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Updike's legacy as a writer has been compared to that of William Faulkner and Toni Morrison, and his influence can be seen in the works of writers such as Don DeLillo and Philip Roth. His contributions to American literature have been recognized by the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Arts, and he has been praised by critics such as Harold Bloom and James Wood.

Personal Life

Updike was married twice, first to Mary Entwistle Updike and then to Martha Ruggles Bernhard. He had four children, including Elizabeth Updike Cobblah and David Updike, who is also a writer. Updike was a resident of Beverly Farms, Massachusetts, and was a member of the First Parish Church in Beverly, Massachusetts. He was also a frequent visitor to New York City, where he was a member of the Century Club and the Grolier Club. Updike's personal life was marked by his interest in golf and art collecting, and he was a friend of artists such as Andrew Wyeth and Jamie Wyeth. His life and work have been the subject of numerous biographies, including those by Adam Begley and William H. Pritchard. Category:American novelists