Updike's

Tony Christini observes of John Updike's first rule of reviewing ( "Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt") that

Principles of Literary Criticism 2010

Tony magnifies Updike's misconception by agreeing that "Understanding what the author wished to do is necessary, of course."

Principles of Literary Criticism 2010

Further, I don't think that documentary realism was really Updike's primary ambition in Rabbit, Run, although it was and is a secondary effect of his anchoring of the story in a fictionalized version of his hometown and of his commitment to specificity and detail.

Rabbit's Run 2010

Its present-tense narration gives it an immediacy that still seems immediate, while the same strategy in the other, more bloated novels seems increasingly perfunctory (although perhaps this impression is heightened because the present-tense strategy itself eventually came to seem somewhat unexceptional -- an outcome made possible by Updike's prominent use of the strategy in Rabbit, Run).

Rabbit's Run 2010

Rabbit at Rest_ is the only one that really doesn't do it for me; my sense of disgust at the title character becomes more than just the odd tang at the edge of the pleasure I take in Updike's narration, it fatally taints the dish.

Rabbit's Run 2010

In Updike's tragicomedy of half-consenting treacheries, time and not adultery is the worst betrayer.

Betrayals Of Love Tessa Hadley 2011

This morning, I was reading one of John Updike's lectures, a reflection on the poet Walt Whitman.

Tom Morris: Our Thoughts Are Too Small Tom Morris 2010

This morning, I was reading one of John Updike's lectures, a reflection on the poet Walt Whitman.

Tom Morris: Our Thoughts Are Too Small Tom Morris 2010

As a reader of John Updike's "Lover or Money" column, it occurs to me that a switch to HSA/catastrophic insurance would create many more spousal arguments regarding doctor visit vs. saving money.

Consumer-driven Health Care, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009

Regular readers of Updike's work would no doubt find this recognizably Updikean.

Point of View in Fiction 2009