{"id":2778,"date":"2015-02-22T12:06:01","date_gmt":"2015-02-22T18:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/?p=2778"},"modified":"2015-02-22T12:06:01","modified_gmt":"2015-02-22T18:06:01","slug":"guardian-offers-a-brief-survey-of-the-short-story-updike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/2015\/02\/22\/guardian-offers-a-brief-survey-of-the-short-story-updike\/","title":{"rendered":"Guardian offers a brief survey of the short story: Updike"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\"Screen<\/a>The Guardian<\/em> Books Blog has been writing their version of “A brief survey of the short story,”<\/strong> and this past week writer Chris Power<\/strong> got around to John Updike.\u00a0He writes\u00a0that “there is enough Updike, with enough difference in quality, that you could plausibly read a lot of him without encountering a dud, and read just as much in another, unluckier direction without encountering anything particularly good. Few writers are more in need of a well-chosen collection of selected stories.”<\/p>\n

He’s right, actually. A single volume of “greatest hits” would be a sure contender for another\u00a0Pulitzer Prize and make Updike the all-time leader in fiction Pulitzers. Right now he’s tied with Booth Tarkington and William Faulkner as the only American writers to win the prize twice.<\/p>\n

Power, who says the “best place to begin is in Olinger,” concludes with a quote from Updike: \u00a0“‘I cannot greatly care what critics say of my work,’ Updike said in 1968. ‘If it is good, it will come to the surface in a generation or two and float, and if not, it will sink.’ Much of his work, despite the nearly unfailing presence of a memorable simile, or pitch-perfect phrase, will disappear in time. Some\u2014a small amount by Updike’s standards perhaps, but more than many can hope for\u2014deserve the permanence we ourselves are denied.”<\/p>\n

“A brief survey of the short story: John Updike”<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Guardian Books Blog has been writing their version of “A brief survey of the short story,” and this past week writer Chris Power got around to John Updike.\u00a0He writes\u00a0that “there is enough Updike, with enough difference in quality, that … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-first-person-singular","category-scholarship-analysis"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2778"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2781,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2778\/revisions\/2781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}