Updike / Adam Begley.

Author/creator Begley, Adam
Format Book
EditionFirst Edition.
PublicationNew York : Harper, [2014]
Descriptionxiii, 558 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm
Subjects
Updike, John.
Updike, John (John Hoyer), 1932-2009.
Authors, American--20th century. --Biography.

Contents A tour of Berks County -- The Harvard years -- The talk of the town -- Welcome to Tarbox -- The two Iseults -- Couples -- Updike abroad -- Tarbox redux -- Marrying Martha -- Haven Hill -- The lonely fort -- Endpoint.
Abstract "Updike is Adam Begley's masterful, much-anticipated biography of one of the most celebrated figures in American literature: Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Updike--a candid, intimate, and richly detailed look at his life and work. In this magisterial biography, Adam Begley offers an illuminating portrait of John Updike, the acclaimed novelist, poet, short-story writer, and critic who saw himself as a literary spy in small-town and suburban America, who dedicated himself to the task of transcribing "middleness with all its grits, bumps and anonymities." Updike explores the stages of the writer's pilgrim's progress: his beloved home turf of Berks County, Pennsylvania; his escape to Harvard; his brief, busy working life as the golden boy at The New Yorker; his family years in suburban Ipswich, Massachusetts; his extensive travel abroad; and his retreat to another Massachusetts town, Beverly Farms, where he remained until his death in 2009. Drawing from in-depth research as well as interviews with the writer's colleagues, friends, and family, Begley explores how Updike's fiction was shaped by his tumultuous personal life--including his enduring religious faith, his two marriages, and his first-hand experience of the "adulterous society" he was credited with exposing in the bestselling Couples. With a sharp critical sensibility that lends depth and originality to his analysis, Begley probes Updike's best-loved works--from Pigeon Feathers to The Witches of Eastwick to the Rabbit tetralogy--and reveals a surprising and deeply complex character fraught with contradictions: a kind man with a vicious wit, a gregarious charmer who was ruthlessly competitive, a private person compelled to spill his secrets on the printed page. Updike offers an admiring yet balanced look at this national treasure, a master whose writing continues to resonate like no one else's"-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references (pages 491-536) and index.
LCCN 2013039246
ISBN9780061896453 (hardback)
ISBN0061896454 (hardback)

Availability

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Joyner General Stacks PS3571.P4 Z556 2013 ✔ Available Place Hold