American Literature Web Resources: John Updike
JOHN (HOYER) UPDIKE (1932- )
Compiled By: Amy Hannon
Chronology
1932 John Hoyer Updike was born on March 18 in Reading, PA
1936 Began attending public schools in Shillington (until 1950)
1945 Moves with his parents and grandparents to a farmhouse near Plowville,
PA
1950 Graduates president and co-valedictorian of his senior class
During the following three summers he works as a copy boy for the Reading
Eagle
Entered Harvard in the Fall
Begins drawing for the Harvard Lampoon, a humor magazine
1953 Marries Mary E. Pennington
Elected president of Harvard Lampoon
Majors in English
1954 Graduates summa cum laude from Harvard
Enrolls in the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Arts at Oxford University
Meets E.B. and Katherine White and is offered a staff position at The
New Yorker
1955 Daughter Elizabeth is born April 1
Returns from England and joins The New Yorker as a staff writer
1957 Son David is born January 19
Leaves The New Yorker
1959 Son Michael is born May 14
The Poorhouse Fair and The Same Door were published
1960 Daughter Miranda is born December 15
Rabbit, Run is published
The Poorhouse
Fair receives the Rosenthal Foundation Award
1962 Pigeon Feathers and The Magic Flute were published
Teaches creative writing at Harvard over the summer
1963 Telephone Poles and Other Poems and The Centaur are
published
Receives National Book Award for Fiction for The Centaur
1964 Elected member of the national Institute of Arts and Letters
Receives an
honorary Litt.D. degree, his first, from Ursinus College
1965 Of the Farm, Assorted Prose, Verse, and A Child's Calendar
are published
Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Begins depositing
his papers in Harvard's Houghton Library
1966 The Music School is published
Receives first prize in the O. Henry Prize Stories competition for
the short story, "The Bulgarian Poetess"
1967 Receives an honorary Litt.D. degree from Moravian College
in Bethlehem, PA
1968 Couples is published
1969 Midpoint and Other Poems and Bottom's Dream are published
1970 Rabbit, Run is made into a movie
1971 Receives Signet Society Medal for Achievement in the Art and is
a National Book Award Finalist
1972 Museums and Women and Other Stories is published
Appointed Honorary Consultant in American Letters to the Library
of Congress
Lectures in Venezuela
1974 Buchanan Dying is published
Separates from his wife Mary
Awarded an honorary
Litt.D. degree from Lafayette College in Easton, PA
1975 A Month of Sundays and Picked-Up Pieces are published
Receives the Lotus Club Award of Merit
1976 The Updikes file for divorce
1977 Tossing and Turing and a new addition of The Poorhouse
Fair are published
Marries Martha Ruggles Bernhard on September 30
1978 The Coup is published
1979 Too Far To Go: The Maples Stories and Problems
and Other Stories are published
1981 Rabbit Is Rich is published
Awarded the
Edward MacDowell Medal for literature
1982 Beck Is Back is published
Awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the American National Book
Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Rabbit is Rich
Alrbright College
in Reading, PA, awards him an honorary Litt.D. degree
1983 Hugging the Shore is published
Receives the Distinguished Pennsylvania Artist Award and the Lincoln
Library Award
1984 The Witches of Eastwick is published
Awarded the National Arts Club Medal of Honor
Hugging the Shore receives his second National Book Critics Circle
Award for Criticism
1985 Facing Nature is published
Receives the Kutztown University Foundation Director's Award
1986 Roger's Version is published
1987 Trust Me is published and receives the Elmer Holmes Bobst Award
for Fiction
The Witches of Eastwick becomes a movie
1988 Receives the Life Achievement Award from Brandeis University
1989 Just Looking: Essays on Art and Self-Consciousness: Memoirs are
published
His mother dies
Receives the National Medal of Arts from President Bush
1990 Rabbit at Rest is published
1991 Odd Jobs is published
Receives a second Pulitzer Prize for Rabbit at Rest
Receives his third National Book Critics Circle Award
1992 Memories of the Ford Administration is published
Receives a Doctor
of Letters honorary degree from his alma mater Harvard University
1993 Collected Poems 1953-1993 is published
Receives the second Conch Republic Prize for Literature
Receives the Common Wealth Award
1994 Brazil and The Afterlife and Other Short Stories are published
1995 Rabbit Angstrom: A Tetralogy and A Helpful Alphabet of Friendly
Objects are published
1996 In the Beauty of Lilies and Golf Dreams: Writings on Golf are
published
Receives Ambassador Book Award for In the Beauty of the Lilies
1997 Toward the End of Time is published
Received the Campion Award
1998 Receives the Harvard Arts First Medal
Beach at Bay: A Quasi-Novel is published
Receives the 1998 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished
Contribution to American Letters
2000 Gertrude and Claudius is published
Received the
fourth annual Enoch Pratt Society Award for Lifetime Literary Achievement
John Updike is an American novelist, short story writer, and poet.
He has written many novels, collections of poems, short stories, and essays.
He has also written much criticism. He is known for his writings
that consist of suburban scenes. Updike takes experiences and places
from his childhood and uses them in his works. He also observes ordinary
life he sees around him, and frequently asks the reader to recognize and
reconsider one's preoccupations. He is also very well known for his
well-crafted prose that explores the hidden tensions of middle-class American
life. Many of his characters are put in a situation of turmoil and
they must respond to situations that relate to religion, family obligations,
and marital infidelity. As an essayist, he is a gentle satirist by
poking fun at American life and customs, without mean-spirited nihilism.
He has become one of the most successful American writers.
Selected Works:
§ The Carpentered Hen and Other Tame Creatures, 1958
§ Hoping For A Hoopoe, 1958
§ The Poorhouse Fair, 1959
§ The Same Door, 1959
§ Rabbit, Run, 1960
§ Pigeon Feathers, 1962
§ The Centaur, 1963
§ Telephone Poles, 1963
§ Olinger Stories, 1964
§ Of The Farm, 1965
§ Assorted Prose, 1965
§ The Music School, 1966
§ The Couples, 1968
§ Midpoint and Other Poems, 1969
§ Bech: A Book, 1970
§ Museums and Women, 1972
§ Rabbit Redux, 1972
§ Six Poems, 1973
§ Buchanan Dying, 1973
§ A Month Of Sundays, 1975
§ Picked-Up Pieces, 1975
§ Marry Me, 1976
§ Tossing and Turning, 1977
§ The Coup, 1978
§ An Oddly Lovely Day Alone, 1979
§ Problems, 1979
§ Sixteen Sonnets, 1979
§ Five Poems, 1980
§ Your Lover Just Called, 1981
§ Rabbit Is Rich, 1981
§ Other John Updike, 1982
§ Hugging The Shore, 1983
§ Jester's Dozen, 1984
§ Ed. The Years Best American Short Stories, 1984
§ Roger's Version, 1986
§ Facing Nature, 1986
§ Trust Me, 1987
§ Self-Consciousness, 1987
§ Forty Stories, 1987
§ S., 1989
§ Just Looking, 1989
§ Self-Consciousness, 1989
§ Rabbit At Rest, 1990
§ Odd Jobs, 1991
§ Memories Of The Ford Administration, 1992
§ Collected Poems 1953-1992, 1993
§ Brazil, 1994
§ The Afterlife and Other Stories, 1995
§ Golf Dreams, 1996
§ In The Beauty Of The Lilies, 1996
§ Beach At Bay, 1998
§ Gertrude and Claudius, 2000
§ Licks Of Love: Short Stories and A Sequel, 2000
John Updike Links:
http://www.ctel.net/~joyerkes/index.html
Life and Times: John Updike
http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/04/06/lifetimes/updike.html
Bold Type: Reading by John Updike
http://www.randomhouse.com/boldtype/1298/updike.reading.html
Online Resources:
http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?ti=01413000
http://www.hycyber.com/HF/updike_john.html
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/updike.htm
http://www.bemorecreative.com/one/232.htm
http://www.ctel.net/~joyerkes/Item2.html
Other Resources:
Detweiler, Robert. John Updike. Massachusetts: Twayne,
1984.
Updike, John. Modern Critical Views. New York: Chelsea
House, 1987.
Last modified April, 2001 by Dr.
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