John Updike

Middle-aged, brilliant and bored, Roger Lambert is a professor of Divinity at a New England university. Firmly convinced that religious belief can only justified by recourse to pure faith, he is dismissive when visited by a gangling student who claims, with evangelical zeal, that computer technology is on the brink of proving the existence of God. But when his unhappy wife flings herself into an affair with the younger man, and Roger's faith in his own placid life is thrown into question. With his marriage close to collapse, he finds himself increasingly drawn to his own half-niece, the nineteen-year-old Verna, in this cunning and comic exploration of religion, uncertainty and passion.

The arc of literary giant John Updike's life emerges in these luminous daily letters to family, friends, editors, and lovers--a remarkable outpouring over six decades, from his earliest consciousness as a writer to his final days. As James Schiff writes in the introduction to this volume, of the writer who would eventually express himself in written form as copiously and as elegantly as any American writer before him, "Updike needed to write the way the rest of us need to breathe or eat." With his stunning rhetorical gifts--allowing him to thrive in both fiction and nonfiction, in criticism as well as poetry--he was also a consummate letter writer. From his early writing attempts (he began submitting work to magazines as a teenager) to the 150 eye-opening letters home when he left the farm and family to go to Harvard, to the young adult correspondence with The New Yorker and other publications where his work began to appear, and on into the fullness of a long literary life, his correspondence, Schiff notes,"figures not as an adjunct to but rather an integral part of his astonishing literary output." The intimacy and lucidity of these letters brings to the fore all matter of subjects and situations, notably the ardent feelings for his first love and wife, Mary, and later the heartbreaking but honestly accounted breakup of their marriage; the uncensored passion for other women, including the neighbor and friend of the Updikes who became his second wife; the concern for his children's path to adulthood; and the ongoing conversations with many literary peers, from Joyce Carol Oates to Philip Roth, as well as Knopf and The New Yorker editors, publicists, and others in the lit business. Filled with comic observations, opinions, and personal news, told in the exquisitely fluid first-person voice of the writer himself, these missives, taken together, make a page-turning "life in letters" like no other.

The Library of America presents the first of two volumes in its definitive Updike collection. Here are 102 classic stories that chart Updike’s emergence as America’s foremost practitioner of the short story, “our second Hawthorne,” as Philip Roth described him. Based on new archival research, each story is presented in its final definitive form and in order of composition, established here for the first time.LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation’s literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America’s best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.

In a moment of sudden inspiration Sarah Worth - S. - has walked out on her husband to join the Ashram Arhat. Famous for his transcendent wisdom and divine immobility, the Arhat has transferred his ahram from India to Arizona, where he and his enthusiastic entourage are attempting to make the desert fruitful.

As Roger Lambert tells it, he, a middle-aged professor of divinity, is buttonholed in his office by Dale Kohler, an earnest young computer scientist who believes that quantifiable evidence of God's existence is irresistibly accumulating. The theological-scientific debate that ensues, and the wicked strategies that Roger employs to disembarrass Dale of his faith, form the substance of this novel--these and the current of erotic attraction that pulls Esther, Roger's much younger wife, away from him and into Dale's bed. The novel, a majestic allegory of faith and reason, ends also as a black comedy of revenge, for this is Roger's version--Roger Chillingworth's side of the triangle described by Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter--made new for a disbelieving age.

The arc of literary giant John Updike's life emerges in these luminous daily letters to family, friends, editors, and lovers — a remarkable outpouring over six decades, from his earliest consciousness as a writer to his final daysIn the words of his contemporary, Philip Roth, John Updike was ‘Our time’s greatest man of letters – as brilliant a literary critic and essayist as he was a novelist and short-story writer’.Over the course of his long and immensely productive career, he also proved himself a brilliant correspondent, his letters filled with comic observations, opinions and personal news, told in his characteristically elegant and exquisitely fluid style.In this sparkling selection of his letters, edited by James Schiff, we can see Updike in real time, capturing every stage of his unspooling life, from Pennsylvania farm boy to Pulitzer prizewinner; and from young father negotiating his first book contract to the bestselling writer he became, following the international success of his novels Couples and the ‘Rabbit ‘sequence.Here are letters to family, friends, editors and lovers, a remarkable outpouring over six decades – including, most movingly perhaps, the letters of his final year bidding farewell to children, colleagues and friends.Taken together, these missives make a page-turning ‘life in letters’ like no other – an intimate testament to one of the greatest of all American writers.‘Nobody has a better understanding of the capriciousness of the human heart than John Updike’ Daily Telegraph‘He was the ideal son of a platonic union between John Cheever and J.D. Salinger, with Nabokov attending the christening as fairy godfather’ James Wood‘John Updike mapped our desires, our wishes, our wise and unwise dreams, our uncertainties, with such elegant precision and for so many years’ The Times

The Library of America's five-volume edition of Updike's novels culminates with three masterful late works: a brilliant exploration of the American Century; a reimagining of Shakespeare's Hamlet; and a bittersweet coda to the Rabbit series The capstone volume of the Library of America edition of John Updike's novels contains some of the master stylist and social observer's most ambitious works. In the Beauty of the Lilies (1996) opens in 1910, when Clarence Wilmot, a Presbyterian minister in Paterson, NJ, experiences a devastating loss of faith. This moment of crisis sets in motion an eighty-year, multigenerational saga whose subject is nothing less than the American Century and modernity itself, seen through the fluctuating fortunes of a single representative family. In Gertrude and Claudius, Updike boldly imagines the long backstory to the world's most famous play, prompting readers to revisit and perhaps revise their judgments about Hamlet's notorious uncle and mother. Drawing on the twelfth- and fifteenth century sources for Hamlet, but also inventing a new history for Claudius in his far-flung travels across medieval Europe, Updike creates a vivid and surprising origin story for the fabled rottenness in Shakespeare's Denmark. The novella Rabbit Remembered (2000) is a poignant final curtain call for one of the greatest characters in twentieth-century American literature. Once again the setting is Brewer, Pennsylvania, but now Harry Angstrom's family are figuring out their lives in his absence. Harry's ghost is insistently present, and the stories shared by his children suggest that the reckoning with those closest to us, for better and for worse, never really ends. None of these books have ever been published in an annotated edition. This deluxe editions includes six rare pieces by Updike reflecting on the novels collected here.

Dzhon Apdajk (1932-2009) - odin iz samykh znachitelnykh amerikanskikh pisatelej vtoroj poloviny XX veka, prozaik, poet i literaturnyj kritik, avtor 23 romanov i 45 drugikh knig: sbornikov rasskazov, stikhotvorenij, kriticheskikh statej o literature, zhivopisi, knig dlja detej. Laureat mnogikh literaturnykh premij, vkljuchaja dve Pulittserovskie premii (za romany "Krolik razbogatel" i "Krolik uspokoilsja"). Krupnejshim vkladom Apdajka v amerikanskuju literaturu stala serija romanov o Krolike - rjadovom amerikantse Garri Engstrome, ego nezadavshejsja semejnoj zhizni, neuemnom stremlenii k svobode i krakhe ego illjuzij."Krolik, begi" - pervyj iz serii romanov Dzhona Apdajka o Garri Engstrome, molodom amerikantse po prozvischu Krolik, kotorogo postojanno presledujut neudachi: v junosti podavavshij nadezhdy basketbolist, on brosaet sport, zhenu on ne ljubit, a ona postojanno prikladyvaetsja k butylke, on bezhit iz doma, zavodit sluchajnyj roman, perezhivaet tragediju smerti novorozhdennoj docheri, mechetsja mezhdu zhenoj i ljubovnitsej, nigde ne nakhodja pokoja, i snova bezhit, ne ponimaja, chto ot sebja ubezhat nevozmozhno.Edinstvennyj sposob kuda-nibud priekhat - eto sperva razobratsja, kuda edesh.Dzhon Apdajk

The third volume of Library of America's five-volume edition of Updike's novels features the continuation of the renowned Rabbit saga and two wickedly funny satires set in the charged realms of sex, politics, and family. The third volume in our five-volume selected edition of the novels of John Updike includes three books: The Coup, one of Updike's most outlandish satires, set in a fictional African nation; Rabbit Is Rich, the third, and many say best, novel starring his most famous protagonist; and the wildly popular The Witches of Eastwick, which was memorably adapted in the film starring Cher, Michelle Pfeiffer, Susan Sarandon, and Jack Nicholson. In The Coup, a surprising departure from his prior novels, Updike stages a withering take down of an array of targets, from American materialism and its baleful effects on the developing world to the follies of Cold War geopolitics and the fevered megalomania of the dictatorial mind. In Rabbit Is Rich, the third installment of the Rabbit tetralogy, we meet up with Harry Angstrom, now 46, dealing as best he can with the challenges and cares of midlife, a time when you are carrying the world in a sense and yet it seems more out of control than ever. In The Witches of Eastwick, Updike imagines a small New England town possessed by magic--at least as practiced by the female trio at its center who, freed from the burdens of their marriages, make common cause and unleash their whimsical witchcraft on Eastwick's narrow-minded townspeople.

Library of America's definitive Updike edition continues with three masterful novels on the joys and the discontents of the sexual revolution Here for the first time in one volume are three of John Updike's most essential novels--the scandalous Couples, the brilliant Rabbit Redux, and the uproarious A Month of Sundays--which together form an unforgettable triptych of the social turbulence that roiled America from the Kennedy to the Nixon years. Written with the grace, verve, and style of one of literature's most sophisticated entertainers, these books not only reveal Updike's genius in characterization and his formal versatility as a novelist but also delve into the complexities of sex and marriage, social class and personal morality, and the difficult quandaries of the flesh and the spirit. As a special feature the volume also presents two short pieces that shed light on the novels and the tale "Couples: A Short Story," the origin of the novel of the same name, written in 1963 but deemed unsuitable for publication by The New Yorker.

A deluxe 20th anniversary edition of one of the first major award-winning titles to feature an interracial family, A Child's Calendar combines the star power of John Updike and Trina Schart Hyman. Celebrate the little moments that make each month special in this Caldecott Honor book, featuring twelve poems about a family and the turn of the seasons. From the short, frozen days of January, through the light of summer, to the first snowflakes of December, Updike's poems rejoices in the familiar, wondrous qualities that make each part of the year unique. Hyman's award-winning paintings--modeled after her own daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren--depict an interracial family going about the business of their lives throughout the year: sledding in January, watching fireworks in July, and playing in the autumn leaves. Featuring a redesigned cover, the 20th Anniversary Edition of this inclusive Caldecott Honor book is a beautiful read-aloud to treasure throughout the year, with family and friends.

Library of America launches its definitive multi-volume edition of John Updike's novels with the four early works that signaled the arrival of one of the most gifted young novelists of the 1960s. John Updike had already made a name as a contributor of stories and poems to The New Yorker when, in January 1959, at the age of twenty-six, he published his first novel, The Poorhouse Fair, launching one of the most extraordinary literary careers in American letters. Now, Library of America inaugurates a multi-volume edition of Updike's novels with this volume gathering his first four novels, including the landmark Rabbit, Run, chosen in 2010 by TIME Magazine one of the best 100 novels published in English since 1923. Set in the near future of 1978, The Poorhouse Fair stages a conflict between John Hook, a rebellious ninety-four-year-old former schoolteacher now a resident of a rural poorhouse, and young Mr. Conner, the utilitarian humanist who runs the facility, as an allegory of resistance in a world of systems and efficiencies. Updike's legendary rejoinder to Jack Kerouac's On the Road, Rabbit, Run (1960) introduces us to the author's most enduring protagonist, Harry Rabbit Angstrom, a onetime high-school basketball star who, on an impulse, deserts his wife and son, with tragic consequences. The Centaur, a comic-tragic father-son novel that mixes memory and myth, won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1964. The novella Of the Farm (1965) is one of Updike's loveliest performances, a kind of chamber music for four voices set during a single memorable weekend. LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation's literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America's best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.

Owen Mackenzie's life story abounds with sin and seduction, domesticity and debauchery. His marriage to his college sweetheart is quickly followed by his first betrayal and he embarks upon a series of affairs. His pursuit of happiness, in a succession of small towns from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts, brings him to the edge of chaos, from which he is saved by a rescue that carries its own fatal price.

Ständigt återupptäckt sextiotalsklassiker*Inkluderad i Time Magazines lista över: »De 100 bästa engelskspråkiga romanerna«.*»Så tät skriven och en ren uppvisning i meta­forer. Läsandet blir som att gnaga på ett revbensspjäll.« | JAN GRADVALL, DAGENS INDUSTRI Harry Angstrom var basketesset i High School men lever nu som försäljare av automatiska grönsaksskalare. Smeknamnet »Haren« fick han på grund av sina lustiga ryckningar i näsborrarna. En dag flyr »Haren«, från familjen, Janice och deras tvåårige son. Han vill »söderut«, men råkar köra vilse och flyttar i stället in hos sin gamle baskettränare. »Haren« träffar en annan kvinna, men måste fly från henne också, tillbaka till Janice. Bortsett från sin kroniska bortkommenhet verkar »Haren« själv alltid klara sig smärtfritt. Hittills... Med Haren springer [Rabbit, Run, 1960] pulvriserade John Updike frihetsmyten i en road novel genom att visa vad som verkligen händer när någon sticker från de sina (människor går sönder). En sextiotalsroman som levt vidare på 2000-talet: omtryckt, översatt, refererad, citerad. Den berömda mening ur boken som citeras i anslaget till hip hop-filmen 8 Mile sammanfattar Updikes perspektiv: »If you have the guts to be yourself, other people 'll pay your price.«I översättning av Gottfried Grafström och med ett nyskrivet förord av litteraturkritikern Nils Schwartz.JOHN UPDIKE [1932-2009] var en amerikansk romanförfattare, novellist och kritiker, som flera gånger belönades med Pulitzerpriset. Många av hans böcker skildrar nutidsmänniskans splittring och vilsenhet med den amerikanska småstaden som spelplats. Haren springer [Rabbit, Run, 1960] var den första i en pentalogi med fristående romaner om »Haren«, vilka var och en gavs ut med ett decenniums mellanrum, mellan 1960 och 2000.»Rörande, briljant. Lika känslig som skarpsynt studie över desperationen och hungern inom oss alla.« | NEW YORK TIMES»Romanens kraft kommer från en känsla, inte ovärdig Thomas Hardy, av att universum hänger över våra öden som en stor, grådaskig, hopplös himmel. Det finns verklig smärta i den här boken, men också ett stråk av förundran.« | NORMAN MAILER»Modernista har all heder av återutgivandet av denna klassiker vars innehåll erbjuder en mycket välskriven och överraskande modern berättelse med ett hejdundrande akrobatiskt och suggestivt språk med metaforer som man stannar handlöst beundrande inför.« | BENNY HOLMBERG, TIDNINGEN KULTUREN»Haren springer är något så originellt som en gammaldags moralitet utklädd till beatnikroman.« | RASMUS LANDSTRÖM, ARBETARBLADET

A post-humous, autobiographical collection of poetry from John Updike, one of the most celebrated American writers of the twentieth cenury and author of modern classic novel Rabbit, RunUpdike had a boundless capacity for curiosity and delight. This collection of poems from across his career displays his extraordinary range in form and subject: from metaphysical epigrams, and lyrical odes to blank-verse sonnets, on topics from Roman busts to Lucian Freud to postage stamps.These poems are nimble and inventive, exploring art, science, popular culture, foreign travel, erotic love, growth, decay and rebirth. Collected in chronological order, from precocious undergraduate efforts to frequently anthologized classics, this is an autobiography in verse for every Updike fan and a celebration of twentieth century American life.

More Matter is a collection of John Updike's best-loved critical essays and reflections.From the journals of John Cheever to the Queen of England, More Matter is a lively discussion on contemporary art, issues and people, told from the inimitable perspective of Pulitzer prizewinner John Updike. Wide ranging, incisive, witty and always superbly written, it has something to say about almost everyone - from Graham Greene to Bill Gates to Mickey Mouse - and everything - from sexual politics to spiritual matters to unopenable packages. It provides any number of intimate glimpses into how this remarkable mind works.Praise for More Matter:'Unlike most journalism, Updike's occasional writing is so exquisite as to repay multiple readings' Publishers Weekly'More Matter attests to Mr. Updike's remarkable versatility and to his ardent drive to turn all his observations into glittering, gossamer prose. . . . In his strongest pieces, Mr. Updike's awesome pictorial powers of description combine with a rigorous, searching intelligence to produce essays of enormous tactile power and conviction' New York Times'More Matter will leave even his closest followers amazed. . . . Updike can write about anything, in any form and at any length, and do it with intelligence and knowledge and grace and agility and wit-and oh, the prose' Pittsburgh Tribune Review John Updike was born in 1932 in Shillington, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Harvard College in 1954, and spent a year in Oxford, at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art. His novels, stories, and nonfiction collections have won numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Howells Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He died in January 2009.

From one of the most gifted American writers of the twentieth century--and the author of the acclaimed Rabbit series--the first one-volume hardcover edition of the eleven autobiographical stories closest to his heart. With full-cloth binding and a silk ribbon marker. EVERYMAN'S POCKET CLASSICS. In an interview, Updike once said, "If I had to give anybody one book of me, it would be the Olinger Stories." These stories were originally published in The New Yorker and then in various collections before Vintage first put them together in one volume in 1964, as a paperback original. They follow the life of one character from the age of ten through manhood, in the small Pennsylvania town of Olinger (pronounced, according to Updike, with a long O and a hard G), which was loosely based on Updike's own hometown. "All the stories draw from the same autobiographical well," Updike explained, "the only child, the small town, the grandparental home, the move in adolescence to a farm." The selection was made and arranged by Updike himself, and was prefaced by a lovely 1,400-word essay by the author that has never been reprinted in full elsewhere until now.

In an interview, Updike once said, "If I had to give anybody one book of me, it would be the Olinger Stories." They follow the life of one character from the age of ten through manhood, in the small Pennsylvania town of Olinger (pronounced, according to Updike, with a long O and a hard G), which was loosely based on Updike's own hometown.