{"id":4135,"date":"2017-08-13T14:06:49","date_gmt":"2017-08-13T19:06:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/?p=4135"},"modified":"2017-08-13T14:06:49","modified_gmt":"2017-08-13T19:06:49","slug":"the-rabbit-tetralogy-and-addiction-treatment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/2017\/08\/13\/the-rabbit-tetralogy-and-addiction-treatment\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rabbit tetralogy and addiction treatment"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In an opening editorial for\u00a0DIONYSOS: The literature and intoxication triquarterly<\/em> Vol. 2:3 (Winter 1991), an issue now available online, Roger Forseth<\/strong> writes,<\/p>\n

“Indeed, it was only a matter of time before journalism moved into fiction proper, and it is a pleasure to report that John Updike has found room in Rabbit at Rest<\/em> (New York: Knopf, 1990) for his own version of the culture of addiction treatment. Harry ‘Rabbit’ Angstrom’s son Nelson, a ‘self-centered jerk’ (to use Ms. Vigilante’s term) if there ever was one, after snorting his mother’s inheritance, escapes gratefully into a Philadelphia treatment clinic. The reader is then treated to the high comedy of Nelson’s attempt to ‘share’ his recovery with his father.<\/p>\n

“Updike’s account is pure Rabbit: “‘A day at a time,’ Nelson recites, ‘with help of a higher power. Once you accept that help, Dad, it’s amazing how nothing gets you down. All these years, I think I’ve been seriously depressed; everything seemed too much. Now I just put it all in God’s hands, roll over, and go to sleep. You have to keep up the program, of course. . . . I love counselling.’ He turns to his mother and smiles. ‘I love it, and it loves me.’ Harry asks him, ‘These druggy kids you deal with, they all black?’ . . . [Janice says] ‘I think for now, Harry. Let’s give Nelson the space. He’s trying so hard.’ ‘He’s full of AA bullshit'” (407-08).<\/p>\n

“Harry Angstrom did not major in sensitivity, but Updike, through his creation of a redneck Childe Harold, is able to achieve in fiction a reality that the journalists can’t touch. \u2014 RF<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an opening editorial for\u00a0DIONYSOS: The literature and intoxication triquarterly Vol. 2:3 (Winter 1991), an issue now available online, Roger Forseth writes, “Indeed, it was only a matter of time before journalism moved into fiction proper, and it is a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":818,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-updike-in-context","category-updike-quoted"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4135","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\/818"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4135"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4136,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4135\/revisions\/4136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}