{"product_id":"updike-9780061896460","title":"Updike","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eUpdike\u003c\/em\u003e is Adam Begley's masterful, much-anticipated biography of one of the most celebrated figures in American literature: Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Updike--a candid, intimate, and richly detailed look at his life and work.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this magisterial biography, Adam Begley offers an illuminating portrait of John Updike, the acclaimed novelist, poet, short-story writer, and critic who saw himself as a literary spy in small-town and suburban America, who dedicated himself to the task of transcribing \"middleness with all its grits, bumps and anonymities.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eUpdike\u003c\/em\u003e explores the stages of the writer's pilgrim's progress: his beloved home turf of Berks County, Pennsylvania; his escape to Harvard; his brief, busy working life as the golden boy at \u003cem\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/em\u003e; his family years in suburban Ipswich, Massachusetts; his extensive travel abroad; and his retreat to another Massachusetts town, Beverly Farms, where he remained until his death in 2009. Drawing from in-depth research as well as interviews with the writer's colleagues, friends, and family, Begley explores how Updike's fiction was shaped by his tumultuous personal life--including his enduring religious faith, his two marriages, and his first-hand experience of the \"adulterous society\" he was credited with exposing in the bestselling \u003cem\u003eCouples\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith a sharp critical sensibility that lends depth and originality to his analysis, Begley probes Updike's best-loved works--from \u003cem\u003ePigeon Feathers\u003c\/em\u003e to \u003cem\u003eThe Witches of Eastwick\u003c\/em\u003e to the \u003cem\u003eRabbit\u003c\/em\u003e tetralogy--and reveals a surprising and deeply complex character fraught with contradictions: a kind man with a vicious wit, a gregarious charmer who was ruthlessly competitive, a private person compelled to spill his secrets on the printed page. \u003cem\u003eUpdike\u003c\/em\u003e offers an admiring yet balanced look at this national treasure, a master whose writing continues to resonate like no one else's.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBegley, Adam:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003eAdam Begley was the books editor for the \u003cem\u003eNew York Observer\u003c\/em\u003e from 1996 to 2009. He has been a Guggenheim fellow and a fellow at the Leon Levy Center for Biography at the CUNY Graduate Center. His writing has appeared in the \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eChicago Tribune\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eNew York Times Magazine\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eGuardian\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eLondon Review of Books\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eTimes Literary Supplement\u003c\/em\u003e, and many other publications. He lives in England.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harper Perennial","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50513743642898,"sku":"9780061896460","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_578123d5-424a-4f14-aff3-04710e3948cb.jpg?v=1730966268","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/updike-9780061896460","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}