American Literature Facebook group post considers Updike, Roth

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On the American Literature public Facebook group, Milan Milan Stankovic posted a consideration/comparison of two “Great American Writers” whose works offer “profound insights into American society, culture, and individual psychological and individual psychological complexities”:  John Updike and Philip Roth.

Stankovic considers similarities, differences, thematic preoccupations, influences and ideas, and representative works of the two authors.

“Their works remain relevant today. . . ,” Stankovic wrote.

Read the full post.

Shakespeare director: Updike’s novel captures the spirit

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Edwin Woodruff, who was given a copy of Gertrude and Claudius by a cast member when he directed the play for community theater, wrote in a Patheos column that while he found Updike’s sequel to Shakespeare’s Hamlet “a bit offputting” in the beginning, with a style that “seemed stilted and awkward and the analysis of everyone’s motivations and thoughts rather labored and obvious. But it grew on me as it went on.

“Some of the descriptions of nature and the changing seasons are absolutely gorgeous, and the characters—mostly Gertrude, Claudius, and Polonius—are fleshed out beautifully in ways that more or less support my own reading of the play but also enrich my understanding of it.”

His conclusion: “Gertrude and Claudius and their hapless sidekick Polonius come alive as people—deeply flawed but sympathetic people who make bad decisions for understandable human reasons,” something that might be said of most Updike novels. “It would be an interesting piece of historical fiction in its own right, but as a kind of midrash on Shakespeare it becomes much more than that.”

Pictured: Elsinore “Hamlet’s castle” in Denmark.

John Updike Review highlights Updike Tucson casitas

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Volume 10, Number 2 (Spring 2024) of The John Updike Review was recently published, and Updike society members have been quick to comment on the stunning cover: a photograph of the Tucson casitas that John and Martha Updike owned and lived in each spring between 2004-2008. The photo was taken by the journal’s editor, James Schiff, when attendees at the 7th Biennial John Updike Society Conference in Tucson had the opportunity to tour the casitas.

Inside this most recent issue is a special section on Updike and the West, featuring an introduction by Schiff and an essay on “Discovering the Updike Casitas” by conference co-director Jan Emery, who, along with husband Jim, owns the casitas.

Also included in the special section is a reprint of Updike’s “A Desert Encounter,” in which he describes the loss of a beloved hat in the parking lot as a result of his attempt to prune the ocotillo off their back decks. That hat was on display at the casitas for the conference tour, but will be returned to The John Updike Childhood Home in Shillington, where it is usually displayed. Rounding out the special section are three papers expanded from presentations at the conference: Sue Norton’s “Pruning the Self: Authorial Presence in ‘A Desert Encounter,'”; Christopher Love’s “Contracted Space: John Updike and the American West”; and Matthew Shipe’s “Way Out West: Revisiting A Month of Sundays.”

The issue’s lead essay is a reminiscence on “Capote and Updike” by filmmaker Jan Schütte, with additional essays by Peter J. Bailey (“Bowing Out: Retirement Rue in Ford and Updike”), Louis Gordon (“Updike’s Rabbit and Roth”), Donald J. Greiner (“Updike’s Pilgrimage Toward Divorce”), and Presleigh-Anne Johnson (“Mainstream or Multicultural? Greek Food and American Identity in John Updike’s Rabbit Redux“).

The John Updike Review is published twice annually by the University of Cincinnati and The John Updike Society and is based at the University of Cincinnati, Department of English and Comparative Literature, with Nicola Mason serving as managing editor.

Members of the society living in the U.S. receive print copies as part of their membership, while members living elsewhere receive digital copies.

All submissions are welcome, and can be sent directly to James Schiff via email: james.schiff@uc.edu.

A look at writers looking on National Windows Day

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This National Windows Day (that’s a thing?), renowned photographer Jill Krementz shared some of the photos she took of writers by windows. Updike is among them, and so is Joyce Carol Oates, the keynote speaker at the 2nd John Updike Society Conference in Boston. All of the black-and-white photos are quite striking. Have a look!

(Pictured:  Photo of Chicago through a Field Museum window, taken by James Plath during the 2024 ALA Conference)

John Updike Childhood Home announces summer hours

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If you’re planning on visiting The John Updike Childhood Home this summer, be aware that the museum just announced summer hours, restricted because of volunteer availability. The museum, which formally opened in October 2021, has been favorably reviewed and recommended by The Wall Street Journal. It was where Updike lived from “age zero to thirteen” and where he famously said his “artistic eggs were hatched.” Questions about the house at 117 Philadelphia Avenue in Shillington, Pa. should be directed to John Updike Childhood Home director Maria Lester, johnupdikeeducation@gmail.com. The museum is owned and operated by the 501c3 nonprofit John Updike Society.

Sue Norton appointed to the John Updike Society Board

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Sue Norton, Lecturer of English in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Technological University Dublin, Ireland, has accepted an invitation to join The John Updike Society Board of Directors. Her appointment is effective immediately.

Sue has the distinction of having been named the first Updike Tucson Casitas Fellow (Project: “Somewhere Between Feminism and Misogyny: Classic Updike on the Modern Syllabus”). Her work has appeared in The Journal of Scholarly Publishing, The Irish Journal of American Studies, The John Updike Review, The Explicator, and other books and journals. She has co-edited two volumes of essays with Laurence W. Mazzeno: Contemporary American Fiction in the European Classroom: Teaching and Texts (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022) and European Perspectives on John Updike (Camden House, 2018).

“Sue has been an important voice in Updike studies,” society president James Plath said. “She has presented papers on Updike at numerous conferences and has become a valued colleague in the process. Sue has shown a willingness to become more involved and to contribute ideas to make the society stronger, and we’re very fortunate and quite happy that she’s agreed to serve on the board,” Plath said.

Sue came to Updike studies through her doctoral work on family in contemporary American fiction, which she completed in 2001 at University College Dublin. She has been a member of the Updike Society since 2016.

Writer’s take on Rabbit, Run: still relevant today

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John Updike’s works continue to resonate with today’s writers. A recent case in point is Martin Jones, whose musings on “Rabbit Run by John Updike—Walk Don’t Run” was published as an entry on his blog, Writing And So On.

“We float above events, seeing them from the perspective of different characters, sometimes switching viewpoint over the space of a paragraph,” Jones wrote. “Rabbit, Run expresses a desire to transcend ordinary life, while also suggesting—in the manner of Ecclesiastes—that the only meaningful escape available to us lies in ordinary things. In the end, Rabbit, Run does not promise any kind of silly nirvana, but it does suggest a more liberating and interesting way of looking at the non-nirvana in which we spend our days.”

Novelist Spotlight podcast focuses on Updike, features Schiff

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On May 3, 2024, the “Novelist Spotlight: Interviews and insights with published fiction writers” blog looked in the rear-view mirror to discuss a writer who, according to host and novelist Mike Consol, wrote more beautifully in English than anyone else.

“Novelist Spotlight #153: The great John Updike, revisited by James Schiff” covers a lot of ground. Schiff, a professor of English at the University of Cincinnati and the editor of The John Updike Review, responds to such questions as his personal attraction to Updike, the early charge that Updike was big on style and small on content, backstories to Rabbit, Run, Updike’s attraction to art, Updike’s juggling of work and family, the thousands of letters Updike wrote, his time at Harvard, his sexually frank and graphic language, the Couples years, his alleged feud with Tom Wolfe, and, of course, Updike’s choice of subject matter.

In Memoriam: Dorothy Huber

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Dorothy Huber, who lived next door to The John Updike Childhood Home and was a wonderful neighbor during the 10 years that the society owned the property, died peacefully at age 92 on April 28, 2024.

Dorothy was a dynamic individual who worked as an office manager and accountant until she was 85. She also devoted much of her time to charity work, including service as a past president of the Reading Soroptimist International professional business women’s organization and as a member of the Berks County Prison Society where, according to her obituary, she “brought the Word of God to incarcerated individuals. Her impact was amazing, lives were changed, and the success stories made her smile; she saw this as a highlight in her life’s work.”

Dorothy also kept an eye on the Updike property and looked forward to visits from society president James Plath when he traveled from Illinois to Shillington to work on the house. The feeling was mutual. “Just about every trip included an hour or two at Dorothy’s, talking about this and that,” Plath said. “She was also very interested in Updike and the progress that we were making on the museum.”

Updike’s Shillington contact, Dave Silcox, was even closer, regularly checking on  Dorothy and bringing dinners on special occasions. It was during one of those visits with Silcox that Dorothy asked if the society would have any interest in buying an elaborate carved sideboard that came out of Clint Shilling’s house. The answer was yes.

Mrs. Updike paid Shilling to give her son art lessons when he was only five years old, so the Updike connection was a great interest. It turned out that Dorothy and Shilling were good friends, and she was told that she could take what she wanted after he passed away. She took the sideboard but also rescued a lot of Shilling’s paint scoops and brushes and some of the artwork as well.

The society bought the sideboard and many of the Shilling items from her, and they now are on display in the museum. The sideboard especially is a unique item that young John Updike would have seen when he crossed the street to take lessons from Shilling. Sometimes Shilling conducted lessons on the Updikes’ side porch, while other times young Johnny went to Shilling’s house. The sideboard meant a lot to Huber, but it meant even more to her that people would continue to enjoy it in the museum next door to her house.

Always smiling and cheerful, Dorothy had what sounds like a cliché: a perpetual twinkle in her eyes. She loved life, loved people, and loved helping people. She was a good neighbor and friend who will be deeply missed. The society offers its heartfelt condolences to Dorothy’s son, daughter, and grandchildren.