Monthly Archives: April 2024

Society member to teach Updike stories in travel course

Posted on by
Reply

John Updike Society member Christopher Love, who directs American Writers in France study-abroad for The University of Alabama, said that he will teach Updike as one of the mid-20th century writers who resided in or traveled in France—a course he said will include James Baldwin and Jack Kerouac.

Two stories that Love plans on teaching are “Museums and Women” and “Avec La Bebe-Sitter,” but he is asking members who have advice on additional stories or have useful knowledge about connections between Updike and France, French writers, French art, etc., to email him (cslove@ua.edu). Since many society members tend to like Hemingway as well, Love added that his new non-fiction book, Crimson Code: The Price of Success, will launch at an April 27 event at a Tuscaloosa, Ala. bookstore named Ernest and Hadley.

YouTube podcaster offers a costumed Gertrude and Claudius review

Posted on by
Reply

Well here’s a different kind of take on John Updike’s 2000 novel that’s unlike any other:  Jordan Falotico’s YouTube Channel review of Gertrude and Claudius—Updike’s creative prequel to Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

Falotico was almost as creative with their review, dressing up as both Gertrude and Claudius to deliver an acted-out on-camera assessment in character(s).

“In this little novel here, it all makes perfect sense,” Jordan-as-Gertrude said.

“Well, that concludes this episode of The Royal Tea,” Jordan-as-Claudius said. “We all hope you have a better understanding of how Gertie and I fell in love with each other and how we came to be. We hope that we were able to clear the air, put to rest some of the gossip, and answer some of your dying, fire-inside, whatever, questions.”

“Ultimately,” Jordan-as-Gertrude added, “Claudius and I think this is a great book. It clears up a lot for us. We think that Mr. Updike did a great job of really explaining the history of our love and how it came to be.”

 

The most popular book the year you were born?

Posted on by
Reply

Angel Madison and Zarah A. Kavarana scoured the best-seller and awards lists and came up with an article on The Most Popular Book the Year You Were Born, starting with 1945.

If you happen to have been born in 1981, the most popular book that year was John Updike’s Rabbit Is Rich, the third installment in the famed novelist’s Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom quartet of novels about a middle-aged middle-class American male who peaked in high school as a basketball star.

Have a look to see what was at the top of everyone’s “to read” list back when you were born.

Updike’s ‘Little Violet’ Ipswich home is for sale

Posted on by
Reply

If you’re a John Updike fan and an old house fan—this one was built in 1832—and if $850,000 is within your budget, you should know that J. Barret & Co. recently listed the property at 68-70 Essex Road for sale.

The house was known as “Little Violet” when Updike and first-wife Mary lived in the house for 10 months before buying the Polly Dole House on East Street in Ipswich. It was their first residence in Ipswich, where the town commemorated Updike’s presence with a plaque on the side of the Choate Bridge building where he maintained a second-floor office years later.

As a Local News story points out, Updike turned a marble-floored room at the back of Little Violet into a study where he wrote. The article notes that Updike’s first chore at any house he bought was to make sure the mailbox or mail slot was fully functional and accessible. He wrote a poem about “Planting a Mailbox” first thing after moving into Little Violet.