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UPDIKE

Name: UPDIKE
Author: William H. Pritchard
ISBN: 1-58642-002-X

AMERICA’S MAN OF LETTERS

by William H. Pritchard ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 25, 2000

Above all, this book should help those who haven’t read all of Updike’s work recognize his extraordinary ability and...

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This appreciation of John Updike’s 40-year literary career is remarkable for its concise, critical assessments of nearly every one of the writer’s 48 books.

Updike, next to Joyce Carol Oates, is probably our most prolific major living writer. He is still best-known for the tetralogy of novels chronicling the life of former high-school basketball star Harry Angstrom, which include Rabbit, Run; Rabbit Redux; Rabbit Is Rich; and Rabbit at Rest. Of these, only Rabbit, Run is widely taught at universities. Pritchard (Talking Back to Emily Dickinson, 1998) believes the academic and general public’s neglect of Updike’s collected works derives in part from a lack of identification with Updike’s self-proclaimed Pennsylvanian point of view and a lack of affinity with his middle-class treatment of strong social issues (such as religion, politics, and sex). As diverse as the American reading public is, this doesn’t seem awry, but Pritchard strives to demonstrate how the value of Updike’s work rests as much on the elasticity and consistently high quality of the writing as on Updike’s ability to ape the raw events of his own life and times and transform them into raw material for his fiction. Pritchard assesses three or four books per chapter, moving chronologically from The Carpentered Hen (Updike’s first) to Gertrude and Claudius (his latest). Though the assessment of Updike’s realistic “documentary” novels takes up the bulk of the book, a distinct chapter is given over to what Pritchard calls “extravagant fictions” (the novels The Coup, The Witches of Eastwick, Roger’s Version, and S), as well as one chapter for Updike’s life as a critic and reviewer, and another for his poetry and memoir. Only Updike’s forays into art criticism, sports commentary, and playwriting are overlooked.

Above all, this book should help those who haven’t read all of Updike’s work recognize his extraordinary ability and understand his unique contribution to 20th-century American literature.

Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2000

ISBN: 1-58642-002-X

Page Count: 326

Publisher: Steerforth

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2000

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
TALKING BACK TO EMILY DICKINSON
by William H. Pritchard

- BOOK REVIEW
ENGLISH PAPERS
by William H. Pritchard

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.