Readers mourn Updike
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- January
- 27
Sad news came this afternoon. Noted writer and American literary icon, John Updike has died at age 76 from lung cancer.
Though he did not live in our New York suburbs, Updike seemed like he really knew us and our lives stuck here somewhere between city and country.
A couple of calls to active readers generated comments on Updike and his lasting impact on our literary scene.
Scarsdale Public Library’s Nancy Zachary recalled first reading about his character Henry Bech when she was in college and today she felt instantly sad. Within an hour of his passing being posted on the Web, she said one patron had mentioned it to her and someone else called on the telephone.
We both said we were surprised that his was 76 and not older.
Updike has written more than 50 books, including novels, short stories, literary criticism and essays. His last book is a short story collection “My Father’s Tears” and is due out this June from Alfred A. Knopf.
A reference librarian who is well-known in Scarsdale for running the library’s popular book club, Zachary said she was just planning how to put together a display of his many books from the Rabbit series to “Witches of Eastwick.
“But once I do that, they every book will be taken out,” she said. Zachary said the book group has read Updike and that they are always popular choices. Recently the group read “The Terrorist” about his own view of what had taken place during the 9/11 attacks.
“He is a favorite of our book groups here,” said Zachary who has run the very popular group for years. “When it is a name like his, even if you read the book before you are willing to read him again,” she said.
“As a literary figure, he just definitely is a part of American contemporary fiction,” she adds.
Read an obituary of him at LoHud.com
Christine Perigen, founder of the Women’s Book Club of Westchester County said she was”really sad to see such a literary talent go.”
Her group participants aren’t such fans of Updike, she said, but she appreciates his writing.
“He was controversial and had an insane and uncanny ability to understand how a woman feels and what she experiences (within Witches of Eastwick). He also dared to break the norm in women’s roles in our traditional society – something our book club stands for.”
The Womens Book Club, she continued “established ourselves as strong-willed, opinionated and open-minded women who have bonded together over our love of books and our determination to create close and true friendships with one another.”
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 at 4:59 pm by Barbara Nackman.
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John Updike’s passing is sad news indeed… he possessed a truly beautiful mind; he didn’t just write well, he wrote wisely