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John Updike is one of the most prolific and important American authors of the contemporary period, with an acclaimed body of work that spans half a century and is inspired by everything from American exceptionalism to American popular culture.
This Companion joins together a distinguished international team of contributors to address both the major themes in Updike's writing as well as the sources of controversy that Updike's writing has often provoked. It traces the ways in which historical and cultural changes in the second half of the twentieth century have shaped not just Updike's reassessment of America's heritage, but his reassessment of the literary devices by which that legacy is best portrayed.
With a chronology and bibliography of Updike's published writings, this is the only guide students and scholars of Updike will need to understand this extraordinary writer.
About the Author
Stacey Olster is Professor of English at the State University of New York, Stony Brook.
| Notes on contributors | p. vii |
| Chronology | p. x |
| List of abbreviations | p. xiv |
| Introduction: "A sort of helplessly 50's guy" | p. 1 |
| Early influences and recurrent concerns | |
| Updike, middles, and the spell of "subjective geography" | p. 15 |
| "Nakedness" or realism in Updike's early short stories | p. 29 |
| Updike, religion, and the novel of moral debate | p. 43 |
| Controversy and difference | |
| Updike, women, and mythologized sexuality | p. 61 |
| Updike, race, and the postcolonial project | p. 76 |
| Updike, ethnicity, and Jewish-American drag | p. 91 |
| American chronicles | |
| Updike, American history, and historical methodology | p. 107 |
| Updike, Hawthorne, and American literary history | p. 122 |
| Updike, film, and American popular culture | p. 134 |
| Updike, Rabbit, and the myth of American exceptionalism | p. 149 |
| Conclusion: U(pdike) & P(ostmodernism) | p. 162 |
| Select bibliography | p. 178 |
| Index | p. 186 |
| Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved. |
ISBN: 9780521607308
ISBN-10: 0521607302
Series: 000340308
Audience:
Tertiary; University or College
Format:
Paperback
Language:
English
Number Of Pages: 193
Published: 1st June 2006
Dimensions (cm): 22.708 x 15.392
x 1.295
Weight (kg): 0.349
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