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In addition to being one of the giants of twentieth century literature, John Updike is a personal favorite I have been reading since childhood.

While I briefly mentioned an excerpt from his Rabbit Is Rich on one of the aesthetic episodes, I thought it would be a real journey is many senses to do a series on his Rabbit books. I will discuss Rabbit Run, Rabbit Redux, Rabbit Is Rich and Rabbit At Rest respecting the chronological order of the novels while also talking about all four in spot of the episodes. This is one of the rare instances in which a work of art is completely aesthetically valuable as a work of art while at the same time being a quite realistic (in the sense of accurate) sociological examination of life in the United States from the 1950s through the 1980s.

Updike does this from the point of view of central protagonist Harry Angstrom and the milieu of middle and then upper middle class Pennsylvania, an opportunity to reflect on the country as whole.

Steeped in the culture and milieu of The New Yorker Magazine as it was then, Updike epitomized those ideas and ideals about a certain kind of prose while being completely original in his style such that you can read any random paragraph from his work and know that it is John Updike.

In this series we will try and discuss as much of these matters as we can and we hope you can join us. Updike was an innovator as much as he was a traditionalist in his prose, innovative particularly in how he depicted human sexuality.

I will discuss his syntax, his tone and point of view as well as vision of life overall.

We plan on this running from November into the New Year as we cover Rabbit Run, Rabbit Redux, Rabbit Is Rich and Rabbit At Rest respecting the chronological order of the novels while also talking about all four in spot of the episodes. Please join us in the comments and we look forward to seeing you all there! #pennsylvania #1950s #1960s #1970s #1980s #1990s #2000s #worldwar2 #sexualpolitics #feminism #industrialrevolution #internetage #politics #linotype #books #bookstore #library #johncheever #newyorker #williamshawn #wallyshawn #tinabrowne #adambegley #adamgopnkik #christianity #episcopalianism #cartoon #madmagazine #disney #newengland #massachusetts #harvard #ruskinschoolofart #unitedkingdom #democraticparty #oxforduniversity $poetry #fiction #novel #davidfosterwallace #saulbellow #ericajong #fearofflying #joycecaroloates #golf #judithjones #knopfdoubleday #algonquinhotel #newyorkcity #Boston #harpercollins #books&company #jeannettewatson #ibm #ianmeewan #annbeattie #francineprose #janetmalcom #toyota #car #nationallampoon #playboy #esquire #vietnam #watergate #cocaine #recovery #disco #top40 #essay #prose #top10 #geraldford #jamesbuchanan #1700s #1800s #911 #ronaldreagan #georgewbush #herbertwalkerbush #billclinton #museum