John Updike's Pennsylvania Interviews

James Plath

• Publisher: Lehigh University Press
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9781611465518
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Biographies
• Index: Literature

Updike remains both a critical and popular success; however, because Updike asked that his personal letters not be published the only way that Updike scholars and fans can read more of the author's candid and insightful remarks is to revisit some of the many interviews he granted—most of which are difficult to locate or obtain. Updike wrote about his home town of Reading in Berks County, Pennsylvania for much of his adult life, setting most of his early fiction and all of his award-winning novels in his home state. In John Updike's Pennsylvania Interviews, James Plath has compiled the first collection of interviews that illustrates and helps to explain the bond between one of America's greatest literary talents and his beloved Pennsylvania.

Included in this volume are interviews and articles by Mark Abrams, Leonard W. Boasberg, Carl W. Brown, Jr., David Cheshire, Marty Crisp, Sean Diviny, John Mark Eberhart, William Ecenbarger, Elizabeth Greenwood, Ruth Heimbuecher, Dorothy Lehman Hoerr, Jim Homan, Tom Knapp, Karen L. Miller, Steve Neal, Richard E. Nicholls, Sanford Pinsker, James Plath, Bruce Posten, Carole Reber, Pamela Rohland, Carlin Romano, Daniel Rubin, Stephan Salisbury, Charles R. Shaw, Ellen Sulkis, Heather Thomas, Stanley J. Watkins, Michael L. Wentzel, and Robert F. Zissa.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter One: “Berks County Game: Find Yourself in John Updike’s Books”
• Chapter Two: “Updike Visits School”
• Chapter Three: “John Updike Reminiscences in ‘Olinger’”
• Chapter Four: “Rabbit, Run Author Blending of Parents, says Eagle Writer after Meeting Updikes”
• Chapter Five: “Updike, Impish Poet, Admits Playful Verse”
• Chapter Six: “Updike Talks of His Work, and Film”
• Chapter Seven: “Buchanan’s Obscurity Inspired Updike Play”
• Chapter Eight: “Updike: “Final Homage” Paid to His State”
• Chapter Nine: “Updike Discusses Reading”
• Chapter Ten: “Is Updike up to His Literary Tricks?”
• Chapter Eleven: “John Updike: A Small-Town Boy Who Tried to Make the Most of What He Had”
• Chapter Twelve: “Updike at Moravian College”
• Chapter Thirteen: “‘Rabbit’ Evolves”
• Chapter Fourteen: “Distinguished Artist: Another Honor Is Bestowed on Updike”
• Chapter Fifteen: “Profiles in Excellence: John Updike”
• Chapter Sixteen: “Updike Is Home”
• Chapter Seventeen: “For TV, Updike Returns to His Roots in Pennsylvania”
• Chapter Eighteen: “A Look into the Work and World of Updike”
• Chapter Nineteen: “Updike Mixes Sex, God and Technology”
• Chapter Twenty: “Fresh Air with Terry Gross: John Updike (S.)”
• Chapter Twenty-one: “Fresh Air with Terry Gross: John Updike (Self-Consciousness)”
• Chapter Twenty-two: “Updike Remembered”
• Chapter Twenty-three: “Updike Pays ‘Debt’ to Library with a Special Group of Books”
• Chapter Twenty-four: “John Updike, Traveling Wordsmith”
• Chapter Twenty-five: “Updike Reflects on ‘Shillington Thoughts’”
• Chapter Twenty-six: “Fresh Air with Terry Gross: John Updike (Rabbit at Rest)”
• Chapter Twenty-seven: “A Writing Mother and Son”
• Chapter Twenty-eight: “Updike Pays Homage to Mom”
• Chapter Twenty-nine: “Fresh Air with Terry Gross: John Updike (Memories of the Ford Administration)”
• Chapter Thirty: “Fresh Air with Terry Gross: John Updike (Brazil)”
• Chapter Thirty-one: “Defrocking the Muse”
• Chapter Thirty-two: “The Art of Fiction: A Conversation with John Updike”
• Chapter Thirty-three: “Updike Visits Memory Lane; Famed Author Reads for Packed House at F&M”
• Chapter Thirty-four: “Fresh Air with Terry Gross: John Updike (In the Beauty of the Lilies)”
• Chapter Thirty-five: “Fresh Air with Terry Gross: John Updike (Toward the End of Time)”
• Chapter Thirty-six: “Fresh Air with Terry Gross: John Updike (Just Looking)”
• Chapter Thirty-seven: “Fresh Air with Terry Gross: John Updike (Bech at Bay)”
• Chapter Thirty-eight: “Prize Winner Tours Boyhood Home”
• Chapter Thirty-nine: “Updike Returns to the Nest”
• Chapter Forty: “‘Rabbit’” in Retrospect
• Chapter Forty-one: “In the Limelight: Shillington Native, World-Renown Author John Updike”
• Chapter Forty-two: “An Attendee’s Report on Updike’s Appearance at Montgomery County Community College on November 5”
• Chapter Forty-three: “The Playful Literary Legend”
• Chapter Forty-four: “Will the Real ‘Rabbit’ Angstrom Please Stand Up?”
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author