Monthly Archives: March 2013

Amazon accepting pre-orders for JOHN UPDIKE: THE COLLECTED STORIES

Posted on March 25, 2013 by James Plath

The Library of America will publish John Updike: The Collected Stories, a two-volume set, on September 12, 2013. Amazon has begun accepting pre-orders. It’s currently $46.35 (38 percent off the $75 list price), and a description of the two-volume set … Continue reading →

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Archivist finds record of early Updike award

Posted on March 24, 2013 by James Plath

We’ve known that John Updike won awards as a young man for his creativity, but it’s nice to actually see tangible proof. The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards celebrate 90 years of creativity this year as the nation’s longest-running opportunity … Continue reading →

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An Easter apparition? Young artist creates an Updike sculpture

Posted on March 23, 2013 by James Plath

Michael Updike writes that “to my delight and mild horror my son, Sawyer (17), came home with this sculpture that he commissioned from his friend, Ben Wickey. Ben is an aspiring claymation artist and just a high school sophomore. The … Continue reading →

Posted in First Person Singular | 4 Comments

The American Reader offers a gentle Updike parody

Posted on March 21, 2013 by James Plath

It was David Foster Wallace who famously wondered if John Updike ever had an unpublished thought, and The American Reader has some fun with that notion and Updike’s reputation for producing a book a year. In an unsigned “In Conversation” … Continue reading →

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Blogger writes about “The Happiest I’ve Been”

Posted on March 21, 2013 by James Plath

Chicago-based blogger Levi Stahl recently posted an entry on Updike’s 1959 short story “The Happiest I’ve Been.” He writes that “the first thing I did after reading it was make two copies to send to friends. It’s that good, full … Continue reading →

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Bellow letter reveals the novelist was no fan of Updike’s

Posted on March 18, 2013 by James Plath

In his review of the newly published correspondence of Saul Bellow’s—Saul Bellow: Letters, ed. Benjamin Taylor—Leo Robson of the New Statesman writes, There is also a generous helping of contempt, the sine qua non of literary letters. To Cynthia Ozick, one of … Continue reading →

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Garrison Keillor pays a birthday tribute to Updike

Posted on March 18, 2013 by James Plath

John Updike would have turned 81 today, and for The Writer’s Almanac on public radio Garrison Keillor paid a birthday tribute by reading Updike’s poem, “The Sometime Sportsman Greets the Spring.” Here’s the link to both the printed poem and … Continue reading →

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Ipswich humor book includes a tribute to Updike

Posted on March 14, 2013 by James Plath

Doug Brendel, who writes “The Outsidah,” a humor column about Ipswich for the local Ipswich Chronicle, has compiled another collection of his cartoon-illustrated columns in “an annual book of absolutely no interest to anyone outside of Ipswich.” But the foreword … Continue reading →

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Member donations start to come in; don’t forget to renew

Posted on March 11, 2013 by James Plath

If you haven’t renewed your membership in The John Updike Society by paying your 2013 dues—and only a fifth of current members have done so—please send a check made payable to The John Updike Society to James Plath, 1504 Paddington … Continue reading →

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Reading Eagle reports on De Bellis book

Posted on March 9, 2013 by James Plath

Interest in the Reading area is running high for Jack De Bellis’ most recent book, John Updike’s Early Years, which is already headed for a second printing. Here’s the article by Bruce Posten: “Updike’s roots focus of latest chronicle”

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