The John Updike Encyclopedia [Hardcover]

Jack De Bellis (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0313299048 | ISBN-13: 978-0313299049 | Publication Date: September 30, 2000 | Edition: First Edition

John Updike is one of the most seminal American writers of the 20th century and one of the most prolific as well. In addition to his best-selling novels, he has written numerous poems, short stories, reviews, and essays. His writing consistently reveals stylistic brilliance, and through his engagement with America's moral and spiritual problems, his works chronicle America's hopes and dreams, failures and disappointments. Though he is an enormously popular writer, the complexity and elegance of his works have elicited growing scholarly attention. Through several hundred alphabetically arranged entries, this book provides both casual and serious readers an exceptional guide to his life and writings. Whether the reader is seeking a novel summary, an authoritative analysis of subjects, elucidation of an allusion, or a point about Updike's life or manner of composition, the encyclopedia is indispensable. A chronology summarizes the major events in Updike's career, while an introductory essay examines his progress as a writer, from his crafted light verse and informed reviews to his innovative novels and stories. The entries that follow summarize Updike's books, describe all major characters, explain allusions, identify major images and symbols, analyze principal subjects, discuss his life and career, and draw on the most significant scholarship. Entries include bibliographies, and the volume closes with a list of works for further reading.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

In entries arranged alphabetically from Abortion (a topic often found in Updike's writings) to Zimmerman, Louis, a character in the story "C," De Bellis provides a comprehensive survey of Updike's works and their connections to such subjects as art, science, religion, and history. The encyclopedia provides the readers with information regarding plots, characters, themes, references, key ideas, and influences.

Front matter includes a chronology of Updike's life and works from 1932 until 2000. Entries vary in length from a few sentences to three or four pages; among examples of the longer entries are Bech: A Book and Harvard University. Each entry for a work presents a summary and a brief description of its major ideas, with emphasis given to most-current works, as they are more likely to lack critical attention at this point in time. Inclusion of references, quotations, allusions, and minor characters is limited to those that provide the reader with a deeper understanding of Updike's writings.

Cross-references aid navigation. Most entries conclude with lists of sources, and a "General Bibliography" lists books, articles, and book chapters. Two appendixes follow the entries: one a chronological list of Updike's works, the other a list of films and film personalities alluded to in the works. This volume would be an excellent addition to any academic library or large public library where Updike's works are studied. REVWR
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

“Recommended for academic and larger public libraries.”–Choice

“Unique and well done, this source is recommended for libraries serving users likely to be researching Updike.”–Library Journal

“Of special value are the philosophical and theological themes prevalent in this thoughtful writer's work....an important resource.”–American Literary Scholarship 2000

“Jack De Bellis...has completed an encyclopedia that critics say should delight readers and scholars of one of 20th-century America's most influential writers....Critics are praising the range and insight of De Bellis's encyclopedia.”–Lehigh Week

“Kudos are in order! The long-awaited John Updike Encyclopedia by Jack De Bellis is now available--a treasure trove of information on all aspects of John Updike's work and life.... All Updike fans will praise Jack De Bellis for bringing forth this hefty companion, chock full of golden nuggets about Updike the artist and his literary creations. That JU undoubtedly will consult this fine and elaborate synthesis of himself and his literary output countless times is perhaps the highest praise for this unique work of reference and literary history. This book will become a lifetime companion to many of us who greatly admire the artistry of John Updike. [This book] will have a long and useful life, which makes it a bargin for all of us who understand how important Mr. Updike and his work are to American literature. My congratulations, praise, and sincere thanks to Jack De Bellis for this wonderful work.”–The Centaurian Website

“In entries arranged alphabetically from Abortion (a topic often found in Updike's writings) to Zimmerman, Louis, a character in the story C, De Bellis provides a comprehensive survey of John Updike's works and their connections to such subjects as art, science, religion, and history. The encyclopedia provides readers with information regarding plots, characters, themes, references, key ideas, and influences....This volume would be an excellent addition to any academic library or large public library where John Updike's works are studied.”–Booklist/Reference Books Bulletin

“Jack De Bellis' John Updike Encyclopedia is so welcome....Readers will find this a wonderful companion to the books, while scholars will find it bursting with ideas and areas for further critical exploration....Highly recommended.”–Clockwatch Reviews: An Online Quarterly of Books

“This work is recommended for university and college libraries.”–ARBA

“Updike studies is fortunate to have such a devoted, perceptive and intelligent figure as Jack De Bellis. To say his comprehensive bibliography has been enormously useful is an understatement, and now comes his colossal and eagerly awaited grand opus, The John Updike Encyclopedia. This new volume, which exhaustively chronicles Updike's plots, characters, influences, ideas, references and more is a valuable resource. In hundreds of informative entries on such subjects as Adultery, THE COUP, Faulkner, Golf, Popeye, Rabbit Angstrom and Vermeer, De Bellis sheds light on Updike's work and life. Throughout I found myself gaining new bits of information, forming new connections, and generally benefiting from De Bellis's clear-eyed attention. This is an important volume in Updike studies and belongs on the shelf of the general reader as well as the academic scholar.”–James Schiff University of Cincinnati author of John Updike Revisited

“[I] believe Dr. De Bellis' The John Updike Encyclopedia will prove to be an indispensable resource for the study of John Updike. The entries provide a full spectrum of information about Updike. The entries on the individual works-stories, novels, essays, and poems are exceedingly thorough. Here one can find plot summaries and character analysis, investigation of themes and motifs, identification of allusions, elucidation of symbols and imagistic patterns, and the relationship of the entry work to other works in the Updike canon. And, very helpfully, in most cases, each element touched upon in one entry will have its own discrete entry as well. It seems to me that all this, plus the cogency and readability of The John Updike Encyclopedia will make it perhaps the single most useful reference tool available to the scholar, teacher, and student interested in John Updike.”–Beverly J. Tisdale Professor of English Emerita Cedar Crest College

“Professor De Bellis's goal is to `advance the reader's essential understanding of Updike's remarkable creative imagination.' The Encyclopedia does just that, and it does so in remarkable detail. Many of the entries are themselves mini-essays, such as the pieces on `Epigraphs' and `Biographical Anecdotes Related to Updike,' and thus they are sure to become standard source material for readers of Updike's beautifully realized, wide-ranging canon. Going beyond the ordinary literary encyclopedia that contains only the expected entries on titles, characters, and place names, Professor De Bellis includes knowledgeable accounts of such less-specific signposts in Updike's world as `Eroticism,' `Magic Realism,' and `Science.' Permit me to be direct: there is no comparable guide to the complexities of Updike's great achievements.”–Donald J. Greiner Carolina Distinguished Professor of English University of South Carolina

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 584 pages
• Publisher: Greenwood Press; First Edition edition (September 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0313299048
• ISBN-13: 978-0313299049
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,779,486 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GOLDEN NUGGETS OF UPDIKE, January 16, 2001

By 

Neil McAleer (Baltimore, MD USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The John Updike Encyclopedia (Hardcover)

Kudos are in order! The long-awaited John Updike Encyclopedia by Jack De Bellis is now available--a treasure trove of information on all aspects of John Updike's work and life, with a complete chronology, analytical index, and other useful features for general readers, students, and researchers.

All Updike fans will praise Jack De Bellis for bringing forth this hefty companion, chock full of golden nuggets about Updike the artist and his literary creations. That JU undoubtedly will consult this fine and elaborate synthesis of himself and his literary output countless times is perhaps the highest praise for this unique work of reference and literary history.

The encyclopedic format, with alphabetical entries, is user friendly and lets the reader choose a random perusal or a more purposeful reading throughout its 550 pages. And a very complete analytical index will point to any specific topic the reader may choose. Many of the entries are substantial enough to be essays--like the first I read, ``The Creative Process,'' that was over 3 pages long. Then I went on to read others at random, focusing on fascinating tidbits that just kept jumping off the page, many of which were little known biographical facts about Updike. Indeed, the idea that a concise biography is available in these pages came to me after spending about an hour with the book.

This book will become a lifetime companion to many of us who greatly admire the artistry of John Updike. And even though Greenwood Press's reference book price is high for this first hardcover edition, the John Updike Encyclopedia will have a long and useful life, which makes it a bargain for all of us who understand how important Mr. Updike and his work are to American literature. My congratulations, praise, and sincere thanks to Jack De Bellis for this wonderful work.

Neil McAleer