The Library of America will offer a four-part zoom course on literary friends and rivals John Updike and Philip Roth, taught by Adam Gopnik, who delivered the opening keynote talk at the October 2025 joint Philip Roth and John Updike societies conference in New York City.
The sessions will be held weekly on Wednesday afternoons from 1:30-2:45, Jan. 14 through Feb. 4. The class will be recorded and shared with registrants so they can watch it any time.
“Inspired by the multivolume LOA editions of Roth and Updike, this course will delve into their complex relationship and many masterpieces, from early short-fiction triumphs, to the scandalous 1960s breakthroughs Portnoy’s Complaint and Couples, to brilliant late-career works like Roth’s American Trilogy and Updike’s In the Beauty of the Lilies that show these two literary lions confronting their legacies and making bold bids for artistic immortality.”
The course costs $200 and includes a coupon for 40 percent off all Roth and Updike volumes in the LOA series. Participation is limited, so RSVP now if interested.