Monthly Archives: December 2014

Updike turns up on an Adult Swim animated series

Posted on by
Reply

John Updike was enough of a cultural presence that he was referenced in at least two episodes of “The Simpsons.” And now, five years after his death, his presence is still strong enough that the Pulitzer Prize-winning author turned up on a new animated Adult Swim series produced by Warner Bros.

In “The End,” Episode 1 from Season 1 of Mike Tyson Mysteries, an adult parody of the Scooby-Doo! mysteries, John Updike appears as a chupacabra attended to by a pigeon and contemplated by a centaur. “You can learn a lot” from his writing, the talking pigeon says. “Like sex.” To which the centaur responds, “Bird sex?”

Since Updike turns up dead, you could say it’s in bad taste. But that’s what Adult Swim series are all about. The complete episode can be viewed online on YouTube.


 MikeTysonMysteries

Blogger shares Updike postcard

Posted on by
Reply

“Writing to Updike” is something that many readers and fans have done, and blogger  Jeffrey Johnson has shared his own experience, complete with Updike’s response to his letter. Johnson notes Begley’s comment that Updike had mailed out “thousands of print-crowded three-by-five postcards” over his lifetime, and says, “Three of those thousands of postcards were addressed to me, one in response to each of three letters I wrote to Updike about his books.

“The first of those letters, written in the mid 80’s on my college electric typewriter, was a reflection on the novel Roger’s Version. The letter began with the thought that Updike might prefer that his readers would not bother to write back. The first line of the postcard sent from Updike–which landed in the general delivery box of the South Chatham Post Office and was handed across the counter to me–was, No, letters like yours written back are always welcome.

“A few years later, in response to comments I sent on his next novel S. which, like Roger’s Version, was an inspired reworking of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Updike sent a note:

 

Updikepostcard

Updike memoir and bio make more best books lists

Posted on by
Reply

Screen Shot 2014-12-08 at 7.20.06 AMAdam Begley’s highly regarded biography Updike made two more lists, and so did Updike’s own Self-Consciousness:

The Irish Times posted “Bert Wright: Books of the Year,” a very short list in which Wright wrote, “Adam Begley’s superb biography of my literary hero, Updike (Harper), achieved what all good literary biographies do, illuminating the life and the work while increasing one’s affection for the subject all the more.”

The Week published “Laura Kipnis’ 6 favorite books about wounded masculinity,” in which “The author of Against Love recommends works by John Updike, Norman Mailer, and more.” Kipnis’ most recent book, Men: Notes from an Ongoing Investigation, is spotlighted as is Updike’s memoir:

“Self-Consciousness by John Updike (Random House, $16). Would Updike have been such a fabulous writer if he weren’t afflicted with terrible psoriasis? And a stutter? According to Updike, they should be credited with whatever courage and originality he possessed. His shamelessness on the page distracted him from his real-life shame.

The Guardian posted “The best biographies and memoirs of 2014,” an article by Paul Laity that features a great photo of Updike by Michael Brennan/Corbis and these remarks about the Begley bio:

“Adam Begley’s admiring Updike (Harper) made it clear how assiduously the creator of Rabbit Angstrom mined his own life for his fiction. It gives details of his sex life without being prurient and is fascinating about his support for the Vietnam war and hostility to the counterculture.”

Pictured is a detail from the Brennan/Corbis photo.