A study of the journalistic and academic reception of the writings of
one of the great American writers of the late twentieth century.
When John Updike died in 2009, tributes from the literary establishment
were immediate and fulsome. However, no one reading reviews of Updike's
work in the late 1960s would have predicted that kind of praise for a
man who was known then as a brilliant stylist who had nothing to say.
What changed? Why? And what is likely to be his legacy? These are the
questions that Becoming John Updike pursues by examining the
journalistic and academic response tohis writings.
Several things about Updike's career make a reception study appropriate.
First, he was prolific: he began publishing fiction and essays in 1956,
published his first book in 1958, and from then on, brought out atleast
one new book each year. Second, his books were reviewed widely - usually
in major American newspapers and magazines, and often in foreign ones as
well. Third, Updike quickly became a darling of academics; the first
book about his work was published in 1967, less than a decade after his
own first book. More than three dozen books and hundreds of articles of
academic criticism have been devoted to Updike. The present volume will
appeal to the continuing interest in Updike's writing among academics
and general readers alike.
Laurence W. Mazzeno is President Emeritus of Alvernia University. Among
other books, he has written volumes on Austen, Dickens, Tennyson, and
Matthew Arnold for Camden House's Literary Criticism in Perspective
series.
