On August 20, 2014 another thesis on John Updike was listed on Shodh ganga: a reservoir of Indian theses. The 274-page thesis, in English, came out of Aligarh Muslim University in Uttar Pradesh. The researcher-author, Tehreem Zehra, wrote about the “Idea of America in select novels of John Updike.”

Abstract:
A literature which emerged out of the roots of wilderness managed to wipe out the stain of plagiarism whenever accused by the already rich and mature European typewriters outpourings and has always been ready to reform itself through the oeuvre of distinguished writers of the nation in every literary era. What Hawthorne did for American Puritanism was further carried out by Updike in his literary career through 20th century America. Beginning with Rabbit series which make up the backbone of his literary outburst he seldom eulogises the American spirit of adultery selfishness capitalism consumerism and wavering faith. He puts his heart and soul to reform the deteriorating self and values of his nation.

Oxford Journals subscribers can download the full text of an article on “An Existentialist Ars Moriendi: Death and Sacrifice in John Updike’s The Centaur,” which was first published in the August 12, 2014 issue of Literature and Theology.

Here’s the link, and the abstract:

“An Existentialist Ars Moriendi: Death and Sacrifice in John Updike’s The Centaur”
Michial Farmer, Assistant Professor of English, Crown College, St. Bonifacius, MN; michialfarmer@gmail.com

John Updike originally conceived his 1963 novel The Centaur as a companion piece to Rabbit, Run, published two years before. If the earlier novel was about a life-embracing man constitutionally unable to sacrifice himself for any person or idea, the later one is its opposite: a novel about a man obsessed with his own death who is nevertheless able to sacrifice himself for the betterment of his family. He thus exchanges his literal, physical death for a series of smaller, spiritual, daily deaths—the deaths of his dreams, his ambitions, everything but his love for his wife and son. What Updike is attempting in this novel, I will argue, is a 20th-century Ars Moriendi—an art of holy dying wherein George Caldwell will model a Christian attitude towards death and sacrifice. But Updike’s faith is always mixed with doubt, and thus his updated Ars Moriendi belongs firmly to the existentialist tradition wherein the black hole of death creates an inescapable anxiety. Updike implicitly adopts Martin Heidegger’s notion of Sein-zum-Tode (being-towards-death); to live authentically is to remember at all times that death is awaiting you. But, typically for Updike’s fiction, The Centaur charts a middle way: If Updike cannot resign himself to death with the calmness suggested by medieval Christianity, neither can he subscribe to Heidegger’s atheism. Caldwell’s daily sacrifices become a Christian response to this anxiety; by sacrificing himself every day, he prepares himself for the physical death that awaits him.

Raghupati Bhatt’s essay on “John Updike’s Indian Connection” appeared in Vol. 4, No. 7 (July 2014) of The International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications. In writing about S., Bhatt concludes, “It becomes very clear after reading the novel that the author has made a careful study of some books on Yoga and oriental mythology.”

“And what follows is fit to be in any porno book. It is not meant to. The description is fitting to the part of the story. Updike goes on giving such things because his themes are related to them. Why does S give description? She and through her Updike wants to point out the difference between her past and present.

“The difference between her husband’s lovemaking and Arhat’s is that Arhat’s Lovemaking makes him an equal partner. His is a religious affair. His constant talking and quoting Sanskrit texts gives her a sense of satisfaction calling her his eternal shakti gives her a feeling of elevation. Her husband loved her as his wife but Arhat loved her as ‘Vishesha Rati’ or as an extraordinary female.'”

Here is the full text.

The American International Journal of Contemporary Research (Vol. 4, No 3; March 2014) recently published a paper on John Updike and Lorraine Adams written by three international scholars.

“Islamophobic Irony in American Fiction: a Critical Analysis of Lorraine Adams’ Harbor and John Updike’s Terrorist“ was written by Riyad Abdurahman Manqoush (Asst. Prof. of English Literature, Hadhramout University, Yemen), Noraini Md. Yusof (Assoc. Prof. of English Literature, National University of Malaysia), and Ruzy Suliza Hashim (Prof. of English Literature, National University of Malaysia).

Microsoft Word – 9.doc

Abstract
In this paper, we intend to examine two contemporary American novels, Lorraine Adams’ Harbor (2004) and John Updike’s Terrorist (2006) with the aim of investigating the Islamophobic irony in their descriptions of characters, views and incidents that are relevant to the Middle East. Our analysis of these novels is framed based on the modes of irony as discussed by Edwin Barton, Glenda Hudson, Claire Colebrook, Ellen O’Gorman, J. Jorgensen, Herbert Colston, Henry Conserva, Ross Murfin and Supriyia Ray. Through our discussions of the employment of verbal irony, situational irony and dramatic irony, we conclude that the two writers make fun of the Muslim fanatics who view the wearer of hijab as a good Muslim. They also imply that the Muslim worldview is one-dimensional. In addition to that, they criticise the US employment of Muslim minorities in places which require high security because the loyalty of these workers, according to those authors, are questionable. In the same vein, they ridicule the voices that relate all the problems of the Middle East to the USA. In general, the different types of irony uncover the Islamophobic traits that pervade the two novels.

Here’s a link to the entire paper.

More and more scholarship is making its way online, and another thesis on Updike has come to our attention:  “The Cultural Consciousness of John Updike: Rhetorical Spaces as Representations of Americana through the ‘Rabbit’ Series,” by Michael Bonifacio (Governors State University, Spring 2012).

Abstract
This thesis is a scholarly examination of John Updike’s first two novels of the Rabbit saga: Rabbit, Run and Rabbit Redux. The discussion is centered on the cultural artifacts and geographic spaces that populate the novels and how they are a reflection of popular cultural and contemporary sociological, economic, and political climates. These items are also closely considered with respect to their rhetorical significance and how Updike makes use of rhetorical spaces to influence his readers. What may seem like ordinary places are, through Updike’s writing, imbued with rhetorical significance that sheds light on his contemporary culture and that of his readers. Updike’s writing over the span of two decades readers provides readers an opportunity to experience culture of two important but seemingly antipodal decades: the 1950s and 60s. Furthermore, by choosing characters that reflect “Middle America” for the first novel and by then integrating characters from the fringes of society in the second novel, Updike shows that he is keenly aware of his changing society.

Here’s a link to download the entire thesis.