by Kelly Pickerill
John Updike, circa 1960
Here at Lemuria we’re all mourning the loss of literary giant John Updike, who passed away Tuesday (see the New York Times article).
We’ve been talking about him since he died, bouncing “have you read . . . ” questions around. For such a prolific writer it’s not hard to find some way each of us has been affected by his words..
Caroline said that she will miss his literary criticism. He wrote a fantastic introduction for the novel Appointment in Samarra by John O’Hara, one of her favorite books. Lisa has read Mr. Updike’s book of short stories, Licks of Love. She said she enjoyed the stories so much she gave them a second reading a few years later. Ellis is in awe of the man, and is looking forward to reading all of the “Rabbit” books.
I personally dug his short stories about the Maples, a husband and wife whom Updike carried through all the stages of their tumultuous relationship. Emily and I were just talking about these stories Monday night; she’s presenting one of her own short stories, inspired by Updike’s substance and style, Saturday at the Mississippi Philological Association conference at Mississippi College.
The Maples are a typical American couple beset by typical relationship drama that results from infidelity, jealousy, recklessness, and insecurity, but Updike handles his middle-class protagonists with careful prose that imbues their seemingly artless lives with importance. Updike has said of his proclivity for focusing on middle-class American lives, “I like middles. It is in middles that extremes clash, where ambiguity restlessly rules.” Well, there’s nothing ambiguous about what John Updike has meant to the literary world. His loss is felt here at Lemuria.
For a list of Lemuria’s John Updike first editions click here.
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