The recently published Spring 2016 issue (Vol. 4, No.2) of The John Updike Review features the co-winners of JUR’s Third Emerging Writers Prize, a cash prize that includes publication in the journal. The recipients are Scott Dill and Yoav Fromer.

Dill is “currently working on a book about John Updike’s prose stye, the five senses, and theological aesthetics.” He is a lecturer in the Department of English at Case Western Reserve University, where he teaches seminars on aesthetics, religion in American literature, and secularization theory. His essay is on “Little Plenitudes: John Updike’s Affective Ontology of the Image.”

Fromer is a fellow and visiting lecturer at Tel Aviv University, where he teaches American studies, literature, and political philosophy. His essay is titled “‘The Inside-Outsider’: John Updike as a New York Intellectual—from Shillington, Pennsylvania.”

Also in the new issue are essays from James Schiff (“Updike’s ‘Rabbit Remembered’: The Presence/Absence of Harry through Intertexts”), Donald J. Greiner (“Revising Henry Bech: The First Draft of John Updike’s ‘The Bulgarian Poetess'”); three writers on “Trust Me” (“Updike’s ‘Trust Me’: Of Anthologies, Indifference, and Dollar Bills,” by D. Quentin Miller; “Asking My Students to Jump in the Deep End: The Misleading Focal Event of John Updike’s ‘Trust Me,'” by Daniel Paul; “Updike’s ‘Trust Me’: A Writer’s Account, a Reader’s Doubt,” by Mical Darley); and two reviews (William H. Pritchard on John Updike’s Selected Poems, and Robert M. Luscher’s review of David Crowe’s Cosmic Defiance: Updike’s Kierkegaard and the Maples Stories).

All John Updike Society members receive a copy of the journal as part of their paid membership, but institutional subscriptions are also available. The John Updike Review is published twice a year by the University of Cincinnati and the John updike Society and is based at the University of Cincinnati Department of English. James Schiff is the editor, and Nicola Mason the managing editor. Send submissions of essays and queries to: James Schiff, james.schiff@uc.edu.

Volume 4, Number 1 (Fall 2015) of The John Updike Review was recently published. The journal, edited by James Schiff and Nicola Mason and published by the University of Cincinnati and The John Updike Society, features a striking (and strikingly playful) David Levine drawing of Updike as one of his alter ego witches.

It’s an appropriate graphic, since Schiff’s innovative “Three Writers on . . .” section this issue features three different takes on The Widows of Eastwick, Updike’s 2008 sequel to The Witches of Eastwick (1984).

In addition to essays on Widows from Judie Newman (“Updike’s Black Widows: The Widows of Eastwick“), James Plath (“The Widows of Eastwick: Updike’s Book of the Dead . . . or Rather, Dying”) and Schiff (“A Second Look at The Widows of Eastwick: Aging Women, Assuaging Guilt, and Updike’s Sequels”), the issue features an Updike bibliography from Schiff and four essays:

“Male Sexuality in John Updike’s Villages,” by Brian Duffy

“Betrayal by Sandstone Farmhouse: Forgiveness in Updike’s ‘Pigeon Feathers’ and ‘The Cats,'” by Peter J. Bailey

“John Updike in Dialogue with J.D. Salinger,” by David Penn, and

“Updike in Love,” by Donald J. Greiner.

If you are a member and you haven’t received your copy yet, either you live abroad and it’s on its way, or you moved and forgot to tell the society. The John Updike Society is free to members. To join or to send an address update, contact James Plath, jplath@iwu.edu. For information on institutional subscriptions only, contact James Schiff, james.schiff@uc.edu.

James Schiff, editor of The John Updike Review, reports that the very first issue has begun shipping. The issue is free with membership, though there’s also a special edition hardcover version, with slipcase, available for those who are interested.

“I’m pleased with our inaugural issue,” Schiff writes. “We have a mix of essays, academic and belletristic, as well as tributes and reviews from scholars, novelists, short story writers, and poets.  Further, and in line with Updike’s thinking when it came to making books, we have aimed high in regard to aesthetics: design elements, photographs, art, quality and care of the editing. We hope our readers will be pleased.”  Email Jim (james.schiff@uc.edu) for more information, or for ordering extra copies of the journal or the special edition. Otherwise, keep checking your mailbox!

The first issue of The John Updike Review will arrive in September, with a hard copy mailed to all paid-in-full members (dues statements are on their way). In addition, editor James Schiff announced the sponsorship of The John Updike Review Emerging Writers Prize, which consists of $1000 and publication in the Review.

Anyone 40 years of age or younger is invited to enter. Submissions are open and rolling. Depending upon the quality of submissions, one or more winners will be announced annually.

The John Updike Review is looking for an essay by a young writer or critic that deepens our understanding of the work of John Updike. The writing may be scholarly or belletristic in nature. Academics, critics, graduate students, assistant professors, novelists, poets, and short story writers are encouraged to submit essays, which should be 10 to 30 pages long.

Send submissions via attachment to:  Prof. James Schiff, Editor, The John Updike Review, james.schiff@uc.edu. For more information about the journal, visit the website.