John Updike remains a towering figure in American literature, celebrated for his insightful explorations of suburban life, human relationships, and the complexities of the American experience. His prolific career spanned novels, short stories, poetry, and essays, leaving behind a rich tapestry of works that continue to resonate with readers today. For those looking to delve into Updike’s literary world, knowing where to begin can be daunting. This guide highlights ten essential John Updike Books, offering a roadmap through his diverse and compelling oeuvre.
1. The Rabbit Angstrom Saga: Rabbit, Run, Rabbit Redux, Rabbit Is Rich, and Rabbit at Rest
For many, the name John Updike is synonymous with Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom. This quartet of novels, often collectively referred to as Rabbit Angstrom: A Tetralogy, is a monumental achievement in American fiction. Spanning decades, from the 1950s to the 1980s, the Rabbit series meticulously chronicles the life of a former high school basketball star grappling with the challenges of adulthood, responsibility, and the ever-shifting landscape of American society. Rabbit is a character defined by restless energy and a constant need for escape. He’s perpetually reacting to his circumstances, leaping from one situation to the next, often into predicaments of his own making. Updike masterfully portrays Rabbit’s sensory world with vivid detail, making him a deeply relatable, if flawed, protagonist. His struggles with faith, fidelity, and the pursuit of happiness become a microcosm of the postwar American experience. No other American novelist has crafted a protagonist so representative of his time, and Updike’s prose, reminiscent of Nabokov in its precision, captures the vibrant, sometimes garish, details of American life across four decades with unparalleled skill. The Everyman omnibus edition, featuring Updike’s own insightful introduction, is the definitive way to experience this landmark series.
2. Olinger Stories: A Selection
While the Rabbit novels showcase Updike’s expansive and ambitious side, Olinger Stories: A Selection reveals his mastery of the short story form. These autobiographical tales, many initially published in The New Yorker, are gems of concise and evocative prose. Here, Updike acts as a literary miniaturist, akin to Vermeer, painting intimate domestic scenes with meticulous detail and rich, subtle colors. This curated collection presents eleven stories that mythologize Updike’s childhood in small-town Pennsylvania during the 1940s. Stories like “Pigeon Feathers,” a poignant exploration of faith and doubt, and “The Happiest I’ve Been,” a tender coming-of-age narrative, stand as testaments to Updike’s enduring legacy as a master of the American short story. Even if these were his only works, they would secure his place in literary history. These stories offer a quieter, more introspective side of Updike, demonstrating his range and versatility as a writer.
3. Of the Farm
Of the Farm is a near-perfect novella that showcases Updike’s ability to create profound meaning within a compact narrative structure. This pastoral drama unfolds through four distinct voices: an aging farm widow, her middle-aged son, his new wife, and his stepdaughter. Set over a weekend visit to the family farm, the novella explores complex family dynamics, generational differences, and the emotional undercurrents that ripple beneath the surface of seemingly ordinary interactions. The sandstone farmhouse itself becomes a powerful presence, almost a character in its own right, bearing witness to the unfolding family drama. In its brevity and emotional intensity, Of the Farm stands alongside other masterful American novellas like So Long, See You Tomorrow and The Ghost Writer, offering a concentrated dose of Updike’s literary brilliance.
4. The Maples Stories
The marriage of Joan and Richard Maple is another recurring motif in Updike’s fiction, explored with extraordinary tenderness and insight in The Maples Stories. Through vignettes like “Snowing in Greenwich Village” and “Separating,” Updike crafts enduring emblems of American marriage, adultery, divorce, and the complex emotional aftermath of separation. More intimate and perhaps even more emotionally resonant than Couples, these stories delve into the nuanced realities of long-term relationships and their inevitable unraveling. Updike’s preface to the collection offers a profound perspective on the nature of endings: “That a marriage ends is less than ideal, but all things end under heaven, and if temporality is held to be invalidating, then nothing real succeeds. The moral of these stories is that all blessings are mixed.” This collection is a poignant meditation on love, loss, and the bittersweet nature of human connection.
5. The Witches of Eastwick
In a departure from his more realist fiction, The Witches of Eastwick is a comic masterpiece that blends satire with elements of the supernatural. Published in 1984, this novel, often considered a precursor to “paranormal romance,” introduces Darryl Van Horne, a vulgar and mischievous demon who arrives in a gossipy Rhode Island town and stirs up trouble by engaging with a coven of three captivating witches. Updike’s portrayal of these witches is particularly noteworthy, showcasing his talent for creating compelling and multifaceted female characters. The novel is a witty and insightful commentary on community dynamics, female empowerment, and the seductive nature of power. To fully appreciate the magic of Witches, consider reading it alongside its sequel, the often-overlooked Widows of Eastwick (2009). The two novels, much like the coven of witches, gain an added dimension when experienced together.
6. In the Beauty of the Lilies
In the Beauty of the Lilies, published in 1996, is a sweeping multi-generational saga that many consider a highlight of Updike’s later career. This ambitious novel traces the fortunes of an American family across eighty years, exploring the intertwined influences of Protestant fundamentalism, Hollywood’s dream factory, and utopian social ideals on the American psyche. Michiko Kakutani lauded the novel for its historical and sociological scope, arguing that it surpassed even the Rabbit cycle in its ambition. Updike masterfully illustrates how dreams, habits, and societal forces are transmitted across generations, creating a kaleidoscopic portrait of America’s journey through the 20th century and its approach to the new millennium. This novel is a rich tapestry of American history and culture, filtered through Updike’s characteristically keen observations and elegant prose.
7. Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu: John Updike on Ted Williams
Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu is a unique gem in Updike’s bibliography, showcasing his versatility as a writer. This essay, penned on the occasion of Ted Williams’s final game in 1960, is widely considered the greatest baseball essay ever written, a claim endorsed by the esteemed Roger Angell. Updike’s prose elevates sports writing to an art form, capturing the drama and emotion of Williams’s legendary home run in his final at-bat. The essay is not just about baseball; it’s about artistry, dedication, and the bittersweet nature of farewells. Updike’s deep admiration for Williams, an athlete who poured his heart into his craft, is palpable throughout the piece. In 2010, The Library of America re-published this iconic essay alongside a later tribute to Williams, “Ted Williams, 1918–2002,” further solidifying its place in literary and sports history.
8. Hugging the Shore: Essays and Criticism
While Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu is a foray into sports writing, Hugging the Shore: Essays and Criticism exemplifies Updike’s enduring presence as a literary critic. For five decades, Updike dominated the book review pages of The New Yorker, contributing over 400 essays and reviews. Hugging the Shore, which earned the 1984 National Book Critics Circle Award, is arguably the most compelling collection of his critical writings. It features insightful essays on literary giants like Melville, Hawthorne, and Whitman, alongside engaging reviews of contemporaries such as Nabokov, Bellow, and Cheever. The collection also showcases Updike’s diverse range as an essayist, encompassing humorous pieces, literary translations, and thoughtful tributes to figures from poetry and theology to astronomy and film. This volume is a testament to Updike’s intellectual breadth and his profound engagement with literature and culture.
9. Self-Consciousness: Memoirs
Self-Consciousness: Memoirs offers a deeply personal and unconventional glimpse into the life and mind of John Updike. Rather than a traditional autobiography, this book comprises six introspective essays exploring deeply personal themes: his Pennsylvania upbringing, his family history, his struggles with psoriasis and stuttering, his conservative political leanings, his Protestant faith, and his evolving sense of self. These essays are not confessional in nature but rather meditative explorations of what it means to be an individual. Updike presents his life as “a specimen life, representative in its odd uniqueness of all the oddly uniquely lives in the world,” inviting readers to contemplate their own experiences through the lens of his insightful reflections on existence.
10. Endpoint and Other Poems
John Updike’s literary journey began and ended with poetry. His first book, The Carpentered Hen and Other Tame Creatures (1958), was a collection of poems, and his final book, Endpoint and Other Poems (2009), returned to verse. Throughout his career, Updike consistently demonstrated his poetic talent, publishing six collections in between. While often recognized primarily for his fiction, Updike was a genuine poet in his own right. Poems like “Seven Stanzas at Easter,” “Dog’s Death,” “A Rescue,” and “Rats” are likely to endure in poetry anthologies for generations to come. For devoted poetry readers, the title poem Endpoint is particularly resonant. This sequence of blank-verse sonnets chronicles Updike’s final years, culminating in a poignant and intimate journal of his last days, offering a moving conclusion to his remarkable literary life.
Exploring the works of John Updike is a rewarding journey into the heart of American literature. From the sweeping Rabbit saga to his finely crafted short stories and insightful essays, Updike’s books offer a rich and enduring legacy for readers to discover and cherish.
