Book TV After Words: John Updike
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- Опубліковано 28 січ 2009
- John Updike was interviewed about his life and work. Among the topics the author addressed were the Rabbit series, contributions to The New Yorker, his father, and religion. Mr. Updike responded to telephone calls, faxes, and electronic mail from viewers.
Glad to hear him mention A Month of Sundays at the end. That novel is one of his best, yet unjustly overlooked in his oeuvre.
I loved the Rabbit series. Wonderful insight on American life and beautifully written.
Yes
Such a great writer, I was upset to hear of his passing. When you read "The Early Stories" you get a real sense of old fashioned Americana, which we are rapidly losing. The few comments here attest to this. Who had a more passionate view of the act of writing itself?
RIP to a wonderful human being.
thank you for this ... enlightening 💌💌
when I become the world's greatest writer I will always remember to never, never, never, never, never, ever, never take phone questions.
I really enjoyed the talk and would certainly watch another hour and a half. Thanks for uploading this and I regret that the other half is missing
What a considerate intelligent and modest person considering the fact that he is the greatest American Man-of- Letters of the second half of the twentieth century.
He's missed.
He also wrote some of the best short stories in the history of the English language.
The book "Terrorist" sound fascinating. The character mix sounds extremely compelling.
THANKS!
Very nice in depth view of a great author, perhaps America's greatest ever writer :)
The first novel I read of his was Rabbit is Rich. I was a freshman in college. The first few pages, you could feel the decay of the U. S. in the late 70s. I could literally feel the paint peeling off of everything. All of the settings and characters literally stunk.
The only problem I've had with his fiction is that his sentences tend to be dragged out because they are crammed with detail.
I would tell friends that I knew exactly how I wanted to go out....playing full court pickup basketball...getting out on a fast break....receiving the pass...laying it in....and fade to black. The only problem being that I want to be 85 when it happens:-) Imagine my surprise as I finished the Rabbitt series (which began with him stopping to shoot hoops with some kids) and that is how Rabbitt went out.
You may change it to a golf course setting
When Mr. Updike thinks and talks about Rabbit he can't help smiling, like John has a secret. Maybe John is more like Rabbit than he would ever let on. 😃👍
Agree, that cheeky grin. John and Rabbit and the American male
@@exoxy Yes sir. 😎👍
I can't help thinking that John's mom was instilling in John the seeds to becoming a writer, not so much for herself.
Updike was the first important author I read, quite by chance, finding Rabbit run in my JHS library. It may be responsible for my subsequent life of reading 'important' books and shunning the more popular fiction of the day.
Could someone upload Tom Wolfe's appearance on this show? Thanks.
Updike's first comments are bittersweet although the interviewer
does not pick it up (see 3:37) An important comment and the
book tv interviewer has no idea. A shame. Updike was always thinking
about his own death and the interviewer ought to have pursued it.
The Charlie Rose interviews in 95 and 96 are better because he sees opportunities when they come up and pounces on them.
GaryPeterso
Michael Doyle How do you know Updike was always preoccupied with his own impending death. Are there any proofs?
For sound: switch the video to 240p.
Something was brewing in Brewer 🤣
What happened to the sound?
Every time I hear his voice - that cultured James Mason speech - I think about his graphic sex scenes and get a weird disconnect hearing his voice speaking some of the passages in, say, Rabbit Redux.
I just now found out that my comment had been linked to a rarely used email and not my usual go-to one. Thanks for your reply and I will look into the society. Btw, I liked "Couples," actually , better than at least one of the "Rabbit" novels, and, although I know it's been regarded somewhat negatively, I rather enjoyed "Villages," uneven as it was.
SOMEONE. ANYONE. WHY ISN'T THERE SOUND?
HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP.
@MustachioEdd
Fiction is subjective. Although I have admiration for Bellow also, Updike is better than all four put together.
@ adam carroll, alas! you better believe it! He would probably feel we were living out pure 'fantasy'. (madness)
How are you doing today
After I have heard Professor Philip Roth's opinions on John Updike I get a better idea about Updike.
John Updike: Read his words and his lips ....? No sound.
This would be a democrat /liberal view on life that was reasonable .
Now unfortunately he would be considered a righty & conservative.
That's how you know politics are going too far 😶
Politics went too far left in 1861.
HEEEEEEEELP. THERE'S NO SOOOOOOUUUUUND.
SOMEONE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, HEEEEEEELP.
his lengthy eyebrows grow to an unusual length, exceeding the norm. maybe it is an emblem, uniquely belonging to the wise, haha
how about mark twain? hemingway said he was the best. stephen king. nathaniel hawthorne. poe. there have been many great american writers. krakaur is one of the best ever--even tho he writes nonfiction.
Emerson and Dickinson, then their nemeses Melville, Twain, Faulkner. These are the best American writers.
He was politically naive as all hell; no wonder, [Gore] Vidal could not take him...
With some exceptions (e.g., the Rabbit novels), I've never understood the adulation heaped on Updike. 99% of what he wrote is either pulp fiction or emotionally sterile pastiches of Colette and Hemingway.
What's wrong with pulp fiction? Lovecraft wrote pulp fiction and he's still an important writer.
You're mistaken, his short stories are quite good. And most of Hemingway is a pastiche of Hemingway.
Updikes short stories and criticism are legendary (beyond the rabbit novels). Also, pulp has a place with important authors. Graham Greene, for example
I bet he would hate the current state of America, with Trump and his cronies... ☹️
He spent his life enjoying the decadence and decline of the nation and of its encompassing civilization--like a typical late stage WASP. The prospect of re-invigoration presented by Trump would have frightened his frail post-faith soul.
The only books I read are the Almanac and the Encyclopedia. Other than that, besides the Dictionary, America's writing is so fake its not even funny. It doesn't make much sense whatsoever.