THE CENTAURIAN

A Private Non-Commercial Academic Literary Website

The materials on this webpage and its section links are copyrighted for literary non-commercial uses only. No other uses of its contents are permitted.

The Centaurian Website was created online 15 November 1996

Our 13th Year Online

A JOHN UPDIKE WEBSITE FOR INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION

Last update 2 July 2009

For additional scholarly information and notices go to The John Updike Society website monitored by Dr. James Plath at Illinois Wesleyan University at http://blogs.iwu.edu:80/johnupdikesociety/?p=60. This scholarly organization, a member of the American Literature Association, was founded May 2009.

Continuing New Material Today - Check The Review Lists Below

Cumulative Reviews of My Father's Tears

Listed by most recent publication review date: ** = new in this update

**Leo Robson, 2 July 2009, New Statesman (UK) - http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2009/07/updike-stories-father-book

**Alan Chadwick, 1 July 2009, "My Father’s Tears And Other Stories will stop you in your tracks," Metro (London UK) - http://www.metro.co.uk:80/metrolife/books/article.html?My_Father%92s_Tears_And_Other_Stories_will_stop_you_in_your_tracks&in_article_id=694429&in_page_id=28

John Anderson, 25 June 2009, "John Updike's 'My Father's Tears and Other Stories,' Newsday - http://www.newsday.com/features/booksmags/ny-bkupdike2812880621jun25,0,3864391.story

Eileen Battersby, 20 June 2009, "The master takes a final bow," The Irish Times - http://www.irishtimes.com:80/newspaper/weekend/2009/0620/1224249165647.html

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[Photograph: Steve Liss/Time-Life Pictures/Getty Images/The Irish Times]

John Strawn, 19 June 2009, The Oregonian - http://www.oregonlive.com/books/index.ssf/2009/06/fiction_my_fathers_tears.html

David Sexton, 18 June 2009, "The Updike Era: One of our age's most prolific writers wrote consistently about men and women, sex and death -- to the end," London Evening Standard, pg. 33 - No Link Available

Colette Bancroft, 14 June 2009, "Updike ponders life's meanings - Death is theme of posthumously published book concluding half-century career," Akron Beacon Journal - http://www.ohio.com/entertainment/48016557.html

John Broening, 14 June 2009, "Updike's elegy: Late writer's last collection of short stories showcases his return to simple, deeply moving tales," The Denver Post - http://www.denverpost.com:80/books/ci_12572318

**Kyle Smith, 15 June 2009, People Magazine, Vol. 71 Issue 23, p59-59, 1/4p, 2 color - No Link Available

Ron Hansen, 14 June 2009, "A Toast to the Visible World: An American master's Final Tales Live On," The Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/11/AR2009061104559.html

Robert Allen Papinchak, 14 June 2009. "'My Father's Tears': elegiac fiction by John Updike," The Seattle Times - http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/books/2009325033_br14updike.html?syndication=rss

William Pritchard, 14 June 2009, "Updike plumbs familiar themes, places of the heart," The Boston Globe - http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2009/06/14/john_updikes_final_collection_plumbs_familiar_themes_place_of_the_heart/?page=full

Jeff Simon, 14 June 2009, "‘Tears’ from Updike, ‘Mirrors’ from Galeano show masters at work," The Buffalo News- http://www.buffalonews.com/entertainment/story/702934.html

Joel Yanofsky, 14 June 2009, "Updike's stories masterful to the end," Edmonton Journal - http://www.edmontonjournal.com/News/Updike+stories+masterful/1694970/story.html

Mike Fischer, 13 June 2009, "A marriage of Updike: Volumes collect tales of his colorful couple, his last short stories," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - http://www.jsonline.com/entertainment/arts/47876852.html

Nancy Schiefer, 13 June 2009, "The late John Updike offers a few gems in his final collection ," The Whig Standard (Ontario, Canada) - http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1611571

Julian Barnes, 11 June 2009, "Flights," The New York Review of Books, Volume 56, Number 10 - http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22732

Peter Wolfe, 7 June 2009, The St. Louis Dispatch, 'My Father's Tears'- http://www.stltoday.com:80/stltoday/entertainment/reviews.nsf/book/story/FCED2C909D61EC1B862575CC007AF0DF?OpenDocument

Colette Bancroft, 7 June 2009, "Review: John Updike's posthumous publication 'My Father's Tears' focuses on aging characters," The St. Petersberg Times - http://www.tampabay.com/features/books/article1006624.ece

T. Coraghessan Boyle, 7 June 2009, "The Road Home," The NY Times Sunday Book Review - http://www.nytimes.com:80/2009/06/07/books/review/Boyle-t.html?emc=eta1

Doug Childers, 7 June 2009, "Autumn sonatas: Updike’s last stories," The Richmond Times-Dispatch - http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/entertainment/books_literature/article/BTEAR07_20090603-181403/271572/

John Freeman, 7 June 2009, "A double-barreled farewell, in poetry and prose, from an American icon," The Los Angeles Times - http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-ca-john-updike7-2009jun07,0,4578520.story

Nancy Schiefer, 7 June 2009, "Last writes: The late John Updike offers a few gems in his final collection," The Toronto Sun - http://www.torontosun.com/entertainment/books/2009/06/07/9703396-sun.html

Jennifer Shaw, 7 June 2009, "Updike's Prose Garden," The New York Post - http://www.nypost.com/seven/06072009/postopinion/postopbooks/my_fathers_tears_172990.htm

Stefan Beck, 6 June 2009, Barnes and Noble Review - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/bn-review/note.asp?note=22802402&cds2Pid=22560

Christine M. Irvin, 6 June 2009, Book Reporter - http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews2/9780307271563.asp

Heller McAlpin, June 6, 2009, The Christian Science Monitor - http://features.csmonitor.com/books/2009/06/06/my-fathers-tears/

Joel Yanofsky, 6 June 2009, "Looking back," The Montreal Gazette - http://www2.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/saturdayextra/story.html?id=82954952-c7b9-4681-9e75-17fa504d3feb

Mark Athitakis, 5 June 2009, "Updike's 'Tears' a farewell," The Minneapolis Star-Tribune - http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/books/46970542.html

Adam Haslett, 5 June 2009, The San Francisco Chronicle - http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/05/RV9F17BHIG.DTL

Zack Handlen, June 4, 2009, The Onion - http://www.avclub.com:80/articles/my-fathers-tears-and-other-stories,28781/?utm_source=homepage_channel_feed

Bob Hoover, 31 May 2009, "Book review: A goodbye to John Updike," The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - http://www.post-gazette.com:80/pg/09151/973627-148.stm?cmpid=entertainment.xml#ixzz0Hfi8X6CH&D

Vince Cosgrove, 29 May 2009, "BOOKS: John Updike books embrace a patchwork quilt of memories," The Star-Ledger (NJ) - http://www.nj.com/entertainment/arts/index.ssf/2009/05/books_john_updike_books_embrac.html

Nick Owchar, 27 May 2009, "John Updike's power of literary nostalgia," The Los Angeles Times - http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2009/05/john-updikes-power-of-literary-nostalgia.html

Michiko Kakutani, 25 May 2009, "Memory Arpeggios in Updike’s Sunset, "The New York Times - http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/26/books/26Kaku.html

Edward B. St. John, April 1, 2009, Library Journal, v134 n6, page 72 - http://www.booklistonline.com:80/default.aspx?page=show_product&pid=3398056

Kirkus Reviews, 1 April 2009, Vol. LXXVII, No. 7: pages 346-347 (no web address available)

Booklist, 15 March 2009, Vol. LXXVII, No. 7: pages 346-347 - http://www.booklistonline.com/default.aspx?page=show_product&pid=3398056

"FIRST IN VERSE: Before his death in January, John Updike was a dependable presence on the best-seller list, placing some 15 novels here over the years. Now he’s made a posthumous appearance atop a different best-seller list. According to the Poetry Foundation Web site, which compiles weekly lists of the best-selling poetry books in the country, Updike’s Endpoint: And Other Poems was at No. 1 in early May. Reviewing the book for us, Clive James was impressed: “In a single poem,” James wrote, “he did enough to prove that he not only had the whole tradition of English-language poetry in his head, he had the means to add to it.”

Gregory Cowles, 31 May 2009, The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com:80/2009/06/07/books/review/InsideList-t.html

Cumulative Reviews of Endpoint and Other Poems

Listed by most recent publication review date: ** = new in this update

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**Ned Denny, 15 June 2009, The Daily Mail Online (London, UK) - http://www.dailymail.co.uk:80/home/books/article-1193180/Poetry.html

**Harold Heft, 13 June 2009, "Showing the power of words: Poets' latest collections offer new perspectives," Montreal Gazette - http://www.montrealgazette.com/Health/Showing+power+words/1691830/story.html

Danny Heitman, 12 June 2009, "Good writers cheat death with words," Baton Rouge LA Advocate - http://www.2theadvocate.com:80/features/47877032.html

Julian Barnes, 11 June 2009, "Flights," The New York Review of Books, Volume 56, Number 10, "Flights," pp. 8,10 - http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22732

Frank Fitzpatrick, 7 June 2009, "The last words of John Updike, poet," The Philadelphia Enquirer - http://www.philly.com/inquirer/entertainment/books/20090607_The_last_words_of_John_Updike__poet.html

Jeffrey Burke, 5 June 2009, "Updike Offers His Best in Final Stories of Love, Memory: Books," Bloomburg.com http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=aqmQxnpYZMzk&refer=muse

Jeremy Noel-Tod, 1 June 2009, "Collected Poems by Ian Hamilton and Endpoint by John Updike: review," The London Telegraph - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/5407667/Collected-Poems-by-Ian-Hamilton-and-Endpoint-by-John-Updike-review.html

Bart Thurber, 31 May 2009, "No time for 'Tears'," San Diego Union Tribune"- http://www3.signonsandiego.com:80/stories/2009/may/31/1v31updike024016/?books

Michiko Kakutani, 25 May 2009, "Memory Arpeggios in Updike’s Sunset, "The New York Times - http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/26/books/26Kaku.html

Rosemary Goring, 23 May 2009, Before the full stop," The Herald (Glasgow: UK), p. 12 - [no link yet]

Linda L. Richards, May 18, 2009, January Magazine - http://januarymagazine.com/2009/05/endpoint-by-john-updike.html

Catherine Holmes, 17 May 2009, "'Endpoint' brave and pristine," The Post and Journal Courier (Charleston, SC) - http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2009/may/17/endpoint_brave_pristine82518/

Bob Hoover, 10 May 2009, "Reflections on mortality, in verse," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09130/968524-74.stm

David Michael, 7 May 2009, "Updike's Farewell," Wunderkammer Magazine - http://wunderkammermag.com:80/20090507/david-michael-updikes-farewell

Arlice Davenport, 3 May 2009, "Light at the end of day," The Wichita Eagle - http://www.kansas.com:80/entertainment/books/story/797084.html

Clive James, 28 April 2009, "Final Act," The New York Times - http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/books/review/James-t.html?8bu&emc=bua2

Frederick Smock, 25 April 2009, "Updike's farewell," Louisville Courier Journal - http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090425/FEATURES06/904250317/1010/rss04

Carmine Starnino, 25 April 2009, "Intimations of mortality," Globe and Mail (UK), http://www.theglobeandmail.com:80/servlet/story/LAC.20090425.BKUPDIKE25ART1438/TPStory/Entertainment

Michael Dirda, 23 April 2009, "Does Updike's Last Verse Hit Its Mortal Mark? Plainly," Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/22/AR2009042204045_pf.html

Michael Lindren, 20 April 2009, "John Updike is a keen observer," The Plain Dealer - http://www.cleveland.com/books/index.ssf/2009/04/john_updike_is_a_keen_observer.html

Elizabeth Lund, 19 April 2009, Books, "Poetry Collections to Cherish," The Christian Science Monitor - http://features.csmonitor.com:80/books/2009/04/19/poetry-collections-to-cherish/

Nicholas Delbanco, 12 April 2009, The San Francisco Chronicle, Page J-1, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/10/RV2516T3FD.DTL

Charles McGrath, 3 April 2009, "Reading Updike’s Last Words, Aloud," New York Times, Book Beat -

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/john-updike/?scp=8&sq=My%20Father's%20Tears&st=cse

Ray Olson, April 1, 2009, Booklist, (vol. 105, no. 15), page 15. No online access.

Publishers Weekly, 3/30/2009 - http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6646876.html?industryid=47159

Carmela Ciuraru, 3/31/09, Newsday, http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/ny-bkupdike0512576003mar31,0,2304157.story

Nicholaus Mills, 17 March 2009, "John Updike's Goodbye," Dissent Magazine, http://www.dissentmagazine.org/online.php?id=219

Micah Ling, Keyhole Quarterly and Journal, n.d. - http://www.keyholemagazine.com/articles/book-punch/endpoint-updike

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Ongoing Assessments of John Updike's Legacy

Garrison Keillor, 15 June 2009 [Entered Here] "Updike - A Poem," CD book: 77 Love Sonnets (Disc 1, track number 13), HighBridge Audio, No. 797761, 2009

**Richard Gillis, 8 June 2009, "Imperfections captured to perfection," The Irish Times - http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2009/0609/1224248416622.html

Brad Leithauser, 8 June 2009, "The Examined, and Exhibited, Life - Updike was the consummate stylist with a blogger mentality," Slate Magazine Online - http://www.slate.com/id/2219580/

Alex Beam, May 26, 2009, "Updike was here . . . ," The Boston Globe - http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2009/05/26/updike_was_here/

Rand Richards Cooper, 8 May 2009, "To the Visible World: On Worshipping John Updike," Commonweal Magazine, Volume CXXXVI, Number 9 http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/print_format.php?id_article=2535

Garth Risk Hallberg, "Beauty and the Arc of Terror: Rabbit Redux Reconsidered," 13 May 2009, The Millions (Website) - http://www.themillions.com/2009/05/beauty-and-arc-of-terror-rabbit-redux.html

David Owen, "John Updike, Golfer," Golf Digest, April 2009, pp. 114-117 - http://www.golfdigest.com/magazine/2009/04/updike

Nathan Heller, "The Reporter," 15 March 2009 - http://www.nplusonemag.com/reporter

The BackBay Historical Society [No Author Listed], "John Updike's Boston" - http://www.backbayhistorical.org/blog/archives/27

Joseph O’Neill, 29 January 2009, "Why Updike Matters," Granta Magazine Online - http://www.granta.com/Online-Only/Why-Updike-Matters

John Lehman, The Cool Plum, "John Updike Dies," 28 January 2009 - http://coolplums.wordpress.com:80/2009/01/28/john-updike-dies/

About This Updike Website . . .

John Hoyer Updike

WELCOME!

This website is designed to provide information and promote discussion about writer John Updike's life and work. As employed in his third novel, published in 1963, the Greek mythological figure of the Centaur--half human and half horse--clearly represents the ambiguity of human existence. It symbolizes both the soaring energies of spiritual transcendence which provoke anxiety and hope, and the captive energies of physical embodiment which generate suffering and pleasure. In all his writings John Updike has never failed to address the agonies and the ecstasies these tangled energies generate in human life. The Centaurian seems therefore an especially appropriate title for this site. It captures the focus of Updike's work in every genre. And, happily, he continues to write. For a rich variety of information concerning John Updike's life and work, past and present, check and click this website's eleven major content resources on separate links as sub-pages which follow Latest Updike News .

Special thanks are owed to David Lull, Senior Bibliographic Associate, and Larry Randen, Senior Literary Associate, for their indefatigable labors in keeping the news and information of this website both valuable and current.

James Yerkes, Ph.D., Webmaster and Editor

Contact j.yerkes@roadrunner.com

CONTENT LINKS

Many questions you may bring to this page are answered in the eleven large sections listed here, including an extensive bibliography. Please visit those section sites before you write since you may find your answer already provided there.

Some suggestions: For most users here, both students and general readers, A Brief Biographical and Literary Chronology would be a good place to start. Those looking for bibliographical information about Mr. Updike's work and/or responses of his critics will likely want to visit A Cumulative Updike PublicationsBibliography 1997-2008 and A Selected Bibliography of Updike Interpretation .

Click any of the underlined content items above or in the list below to access each separate section.

Send your information, questions, and comments about the contents of this website by clicking the following Email link. You are requested to identify yourself by name and, for page records, to indicate your city and/or state, and country of origin. No information is ever passed along to other parties and no material is ever posted on the website without personal permission. We attempt to answer all correspondence within 24 hours.

Write j.yerkes@roadrunner.com

Latest Updike News . . .

A Tribute to John Updike at the Longfellow Historic Site on June 28

The 2009 Summer Festival is underway at Longfellow National Historic Site. The next event will be a "Salute to John Updike" on June 28, at 4 p.m., when Christopher Lydon, journalist, TV and radio personality; X. J. Kennedy, poet and editor; and F.D. Reeve, poet and scholar will pay tribute to Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Updike.

For more information click and go to http://www.examiner.com/x-4661-National-Parks-Travel-Examiner~y2009m6d14-Longfellow-National-Historic-Site2009-Summer-Festival

Do you recognize this special tree? And a slight correction added here.

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Click this link and go to What's New in Updikiana

An Extended Meditation on Updike's Influence in Another Writer's Life and Work: A Strong Tribute

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The Widows of Eastwick

A listing of reviews to last update on January 25. Next update: February 1

Currently 80 book review online links, plus the NPR vocal interview about Widows

For the full documented list of reviews click here

Chiron's Forum: Selected Essays and Criticism

"I miss only, and then only a little, in the late afternoon, the sudden white laughter that like heat lightning bursts in an atmosphere where souls are trying to serve the impossible. My father for all his mourning moved in the atmosphere of such laughter. He would have puzzled you. He puzzled me. His upper half was hidden from me, I knew best his legs."

The Centaur (1963): 269

BULLETIN BOARD

Listings of Upcoming Updike Appearances Are Welcome Here

JUST A NOTE HERE THAT WE ARE DEPENDENT ON OUR SITE READERS ALL ACROSS THE COUNTRY AND THE WORLD TO PROVIDE THE LECTURE AND APPEARANCE INFORMATION CARRIED ON THE CENTAURIAN WEBSITE. YOUR HELP IS CORDIALLY SOLICITED AS SPECIAL APPEARANCES ARE ANNOUNCED ACROSS THE COUNTRY.

When Mr. Updike travels to make appearances there is no central source of information available about these visits since he arranges his own schedule and prefers not to work through booking agents--though this is done from time to time. The same agent is not used in every case so information is impossible to gather unless persons in the area where he is to appear provide it for our use here under the site Item #5, Lecture and Appearance Schedule. This website is the only place where a public notice of scheduled appearances is posted. So, your help is cordially solicited in this somewhat daunting task. What is important is the date(s), city and state, time(s), site name location with room or hall, cost to the public (if any), and a contact telephone, fax, and/or email for the sponsoring party so interested persons may know how to solicit further information. As in all matters on this website, many thanks for the scores of persons who so faithfully assist in this and many, many other ways.

Dr. James Yerkes

Click here and go to Lecture and Appearance Schedule

Click Here to Go Back to Content Links

26 April 1968 Issue 18 October 1982 Issue

Go Back to Content Links

A PERMANENT INVITATION

We warmly invite interested persons to contribute to the content of this page in two ways.

First, we invite questions and comments from both occasional browsers and regular users in the Grazing Among the Centaurs section. From the beginning we have received numerous inquiries from high school, college, and graduate students about where Updike or his critics discuss certain issues. And adult general readers frequently ask similar questions. Sometimes I am able to help, and sometimes I am not. I know that there is enormous Updike expertise out there in webland--and not only among academics, to be sure--so it is now time that we draw upon that. These questions now constitute the first section of Grazing, noted below as Updike Reader Questions and Commentary .

Second, we invite you to help us locate information and resources about Updike in the What's New in Updikiana section. Here we are interested in recent and current information and articles about him in the public media. Anecdotes from and critical commentary about his public appearances are also welcome from those who attended. We are also interested in the published location of his articles, stories, poetry, and drawings, as well as reviews of this major works as they appear and new critical resources assessing his literary efforts. All of these materials will constitute an ongoing bibliographical source for all page users. Your help will be very much appreciated in collecting this data. For more information about how to participate, click this What's New in Updikiana link.

Send your information, questions, and comments about this webpage by clicking the following link:

j.yerkes@roadrunner.com

_________________________________________________________________________________________

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Additional Literary Links

A SPECIAL REMINDER ABOUT THE WONDERFUL MATERIALS AVAILABLE ON The New York Times Updike Website

A couple of years ago The New York Times revised its Updike website and included some excellent new resources. Most readers here know that, but in case new readers do not, let me remind you of this fine resource located at http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/11/19/specials/updike.html .

In addition to reviews of Updike's book which have appeared in The Times, along with some articles, there are two wonderful audio recording of Terri Gross interviewing him in September 1997 and March 1998, with segment content listings so one may choose topics which are discussed in the interviews.

There are also texts of interviews with Updike concerning his work from 1961-1988.

There are, additionally, the texts of the first chapter from the books Toward the End of Time, More Matter, and Gertrude and Claudius, with an excerpt from Bech at Bay, the major portion of "Bech Noir."

Finally there is an Updike AUDIO READING from Licks of Love. The notice reads, "Exclusively on The New York Times on the Web, John Updike reads from "Rabbit Remembered," a novella from his new book, Licks of Love, which revisits the characters Updike introduced in his four novels about Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom. Recorded on Nov. 14, 2000. Duration: 43 min."

Be sure to visit that site from time to time to examine the new materials which appear there. It is a wonderful resource and the only extensive source online for texts from Updike writings, interviews, and reviews. [J. Yerkes, 9-1-01]

By all means check out the material available free and download-able free from The New York Times on the Web. The first link is the one I prefer, though the reviews of Updike's books go only through 1997. Click below for that page:

http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/04/06/lifetimes/updike.html

The second link here and noted above is organized differently but has more recent reviews. Click below for that page:

http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/11/19/specials/updike.html

A Brief Author Biography and Selected Bibliography

Mr. Petri Liukkonen is the librarian at Kuusankoski Library in Finland. Students will find this information very useful as a starting point in their Updike research. The Updike author website address is

http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/updike.htm

http://www.libraries.psu.edu/crsweb/etext/updike/home.htm

Under the title "John Updike's Buchanan Dying," Penn State University Libraries provide a marvelous treasure of online manuscript and commentary resources. It is a rich resource and an example of the extraordinary research materials available through many university and special library systems. This is the only Updike site of which we are aware.

http://www.windhorst.org/updike/

Dr. Peter Windhorst put together a website, "An Updike Geography," with pictures of John Updike's residences and significant sites over the years, starting at the Shillington residence and extending to the house in Georgetown. Since Updike's home on Beverly Farms, MA, shore property is private, no picture was available to him--a picture of St. John's Episcopal Church there substituting, but several other interesting sites appear that will interest Updike readers. Here is the list of pictures available:

117 Philadelphia Avenue, Shillington, PA (1932-1945); A Sandstone Farmhouse, Plowville, Pennsylvania (1945-1950); 26 East Street, Ipswich, Massachusetts (1958-1970); Updike rents a one-room office, above a restaurant and overlooking the Ipswich River, in the Caldwell Building, South Main Street, Ipswich (1961); Labor-in-Vain Road, Ipswich (1970-1974); Updike's apartment 151 Beacon Street, Boston (1974-1976); 58 West Main Street, Georgetown, Massachusetts (1976-1982); Updike moves in 1982 to a house in Beverly Farms, Massachusetts and attends St. John's Episcopal Church (shown).

http://lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~matsuoka/AmeLit.html

An unbelievably wonderful page dedicated to the full range of authors of American literature developed by Professor Mitsuharu Matsuoka at Nagoya University in Japan. He lists web addresses and commentary sites for 784! American authors born between 1853 and 1963--a truly phenomenal achievement and marvelous literary resource.

A segment of the Joyce Carol Oates Home Page where she comments on Updike's work. Her special webpage is beautiful piece of work: Celestial Timepiece: A Joyce Carol Oates Home Page. The address is http://jco.usfca.edu/

http://qbbooks.com

The John Updike Author Price Guide is published by Quill & Brush Press. They produce author lists which provide chronologically organized bibliographical and publishing detail (first issues and first editions, limited editions, number of copies published, recent pricing levels, etc.). The last Updike list was updated in January 1998 and the publishing information is still valuable for books and materials to that time.

http://www.books-rare.com/searcheng.htm

For Updike book collectors this BOOKS-RARE is an unbelievably useful site with search engine connections to Advanced Book Exchange http://www.abebooks.com - 1,317 dealer database of over 3,000,000 books. Pick up their free book database program while you visit. Well worth the effort of the download. Antiqbook http://www.antiqbook.nl/database/index.html - for those who enjoy books with an international flair. Based in Holland with 30 dealers, over 300,000 titles, and 200,000 pieces of old graphics art. Bibliofind http://208.144.214.69/cgi-bin/texis.exe/search.vor - lists over 5 million books. "Picked by Yahoo Internet Life as the #1 Favorite Site of 1997" where books are offered for sale by more than 1600 booksellers worldwide. Bibliocity - http://www.bibliocity.com/bib-bin/show?c=0 - Database handling over 45 dealers, 120,000 books, with a combined inventory of $17,000,000. An attractive site with visual appeal. This site can probably be compared to a boutique with matching decor, quality, name brands, and price. Interloc - http://daniel.interloc.com/ -- my personal favorite--is one of the oldest and largest book search databases with an inventory of over 3,000,000 books from about 1,800 dealers. Search mechanism is nice with criteria that lets you select lists within price ranges. They also provide useful links for additional collecting information. MX Bookfinder - http://www.mxbf.com/ The MX BookFinder is a free, all-in-one, meta-search engine that runs fast combined searches on several sites (including Interloc, ABE, Bibliofind, and Bibliocity), and returns the results in a single list. For refined searches, you might want to try some of the other search engines. There are also more specialized links liste, so by all means go and browse. A really superb set of sites.

Send your information, questions, and comments about this webpage by clicking the following link:

Write j.yerkes@roadrunner.com

"When a natural discourse paints a passion or an effect, one feels within oneself the truth of what one reads, which was there before, although one did not know it. Hence one is inclined to love him who makes us feel it, for he has not shown his own riches, but ours." -- Blaise Pascal.

Quoted by John Updike in his1964 inagural remarks upon being elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters. A Century of Arts and Letters, p. 183.

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"Zeus had loved his old friend, and lifted him up, and set him among the stars as the constellation Sagittarius. Here, in the Zodiac, now above, now below the horizon, he assists in the regulation of our destinies, though in this latter time few living mortals cast their eyes respectfully toward Heaven, and fewer still sit as students to the stars."

The Centaur (1963), page 299.

"If there was ever such a species as the Protestant novelist, comparable to that much discussed animal, the Catholic novelist, Mr. Updike may be its last surviving example."

David Lodge, The New York Times Book Review, 31 August 1986

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