John Updike says: Any act of description is, to some extent, an act of praise, so that even when the event is unpleasant or horrifying or spiritually stunning, the very attempt to describe it is, in some way, part of that Old Testament injunction to give praise. Even though my books strike many people as immoral or morally useless, to me they are really moral investigations of how we live, and harsh, perhaps, because the standards are otherworldly. There was a tradition among my peers for frank and open talk, and I'd always been a rather shy, priggish, unexperienced adolescent. So maybe my revenge as a young adult was to put down all the dirty words that I'd always been a little shy about using. James Plath, a professor of English at Illinois Wesleyan University, is editor-publisher of "Clockwatch Review" and director of Hemingway Days Writer's Workshop and Conference in Key West.
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From Booklist
Having a discussion with John Updike must be a pleasure, so one would conclude from reading this collection of 32 interviews given by the fiction writer and poet between 1959 and last year and gathered in the latest volume of Mississippi's estimable series of collected interviews with major writers. Interviewers come at Updike from all angles, and he's not deflective; his intelligence, his views (not limited to literature but extended to life in general), and his articulateness come readily to the fore. Important in large literature collections where previous series titles have been popular or where there is particular Updike interest. Brad Hooper
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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More About the Author
John Updike was born in 1932, in Shillington, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Harvard College in 1954, and spent a year in Oxford, England, at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art. From 1955 to 1957 he was a member of the staff of The New Yorker, and since 1957 lived in Massachusetts. He was the father of four children and the author of more than fifty books, including collections of short stories, poems, essays, and criticism. His novels won the Pulitzer Prize (twice), the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Rosenthal Award, and the Howells Medal. A previous collection of essays, Hugging the Shore, received the 1983 National Book Critics Circle Award for criticism. John Updike died on January 27, 2009, at the age of 76.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful insights into the mind of America's finest writer,
By A Customer
This review is from: Conversations with John Updike (Paperback)
This lively collection of short interviews, magazine and newspapers profiles gives us an even deeper picture into Updike's art. But more than peeking inside his head, we also watch him grow from a callow young novelist and short story writer to our nation's most senior man of letters.Like his novels and stories, this interview collection is worth re-reading. Buy it now.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating Book,
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This review is from: Conversations with John Updike (Paperback)
This is a great book for gaining insight into the writing of John Updike. Collected is a series of interviews over a thirty year period. Updike might bemoan being interviewed, but he usually provides a gem everytime. I highly recommend this book.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
We can think of no better way to start this year than with John Updike's The Poorhouse Fair (Knopf-January). Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
John Updike, New England, Month of Sundays, The Poorhouse Fair, Rabbit Redux, The Coup, Henry Bech, Pop Art, Roger's Version, Van Horne, Harry Angstrom, James Buchanan, Buchanan Dying, Rabbit Is Rich, The Witches of Eastwick, United States, Black Africa, George Caldwell, Karl Barth, Gore Vidal, Henry Green, Middle America, Pigeon Feathers, Berks County, Henry James New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
We can think of no better way to start this year than with John Updike's The Poorhouse Fair (Knopf-January). Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
John Updike, New England, Month of Sundays, The Poorhouse Fair, Rabbit Redux, The Coup, Henry Bech, Pop Art, Roger's Version, Van Horne, Harry Angstrom, James Buchanan, Buchanan Dying, Rabbit Is Rich, The Witches of Eastwick, United States, Black Africa, George Caldwell, Karl Barth, Gore Vidal, Henry Green, Middle America, Pigeon Feathers, Berks County, Henry James New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 77
books:
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6
books
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- Rabbit, Run by John Updike on 40 pages
- The Poorhouse Fair: A Novel by John Updike on 22 pages
- A Month of Sundays: A Novel by John Updike on 19 pages
- Rabbit Redux by John Updike on 17 pages
- Of the Farm: A Novel by John Updike on 9 pages
See all 77 books this book cites
- The Cambridge Companion to John Updike (Cambridge Companions to Literature) by Stacey Olster on 9 pages
- This Mad Instead: Governing Metaphors in Contemporary American Fiction by Arthur M. Saltzman in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- Updike: America's Man of Letters by William Pritchard in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Garden Plots: The Politics And Poetics of Gardens by Shelley Saguaro on page 70, and Back Matter
- Confessions of a Lapsed Skeptic: Acknowledging the Mystery and Manner of God by Todd H. Speidell on page 73
See all 6 books citing this book
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