{"id":6356,"date":"2024-03-23T10:14:10","date_gmt":"2024-03-23T15:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/?p=6356"},"modified":"2024-03-23T10:14:10","modified_gmt":"2024-03-23T15:14:10","slug":"observer-reader-writes-updike-was-no-monk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/2024\/03\/23\/observer-reader-writes-updike-was-no-monk\/","title":{"rendered":"Observer reader writes Updike was &#8216;no monk&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-6357\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/files\/2024\/03\/Screen-Shot-2024-03-23-at-10.10.45-AM-300x113.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"113\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/files\/2024\/03\/Screen-Shot-2024-03-23-at-10.10.45-AM-300x113.png 300w, https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/files\/2024\/03\/Screen-Shot-2024-03-23-at-10.10.45-AM.png 339w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>One of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/theobserver\/commentisfree\/2024\/mar\/10\/observer-letters-without-voice-actors-lost#:~:text=Treagus%0ADidsbury%2C%20Manchester-,Updike%20was%20no%20monk,-Tomiwa%20Owolade%20writes\">March 10, 2024 letters<\/a> to <em>The Observer <\/em>(U.K.),\u00a0<em>The Guardian<\/em>&#8216;s Sunday magazine, writes in a letter given the headline &#8220;Updike was no monk&#8221;:<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-vmkf2w\">&#8220;Tomiwa Owolade writes persuasively about the rewards of ritual in a simple life, but he might want to think again about describing John Updike as a \u201chappy monk\u201d (\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2024\/mar\/02\/make-coffee-shower-clean-the-loo-in-an-age-of-choice-rituals-are-key-to-happiness\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Make coffee. Shower. Clean\u00a0the loo. In an age of choice, rituals are the key to happiness<\/a>\u201d).<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-vmkf2w\">The great writer was serially unfaithful, seeking comfort in religious faith and sexual adventure. As Updike explained it: &#8216;If you have a secret, submerged, second life, you have somehow transcended or outwitted the confines of a single life.&#8217; That\u2019s one way of excusing infidelity.&#8221;<br \/>\n<strong>Suzy Powling<\/strong><br \/>\nLeiston, Suffolk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the March 10, 2024 letters to The Observer (U.K.),\u00a0The Guardian&#8216;s Sunday magazine, writes in a letter given the headline &#8220;Updike was no monk&#8221;: &#8220;Tomiwa Owolade writes persuasively about the rewards of ritual in a simple life, but he &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/2024\/03\/23\/observer-reader-writes-updike-was-no-monk\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/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":[6,59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-first-person-singular","category-letters"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6356","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=6356"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6358,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6356\/revisions\/6358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}