Volume 50, Number 18 · November 20, 2003
Home Truths
By Lorrie Moore
The Early Stories, 1953–1975
by John Updike
Knopf, 838 pp., $35.00
Embedded (oh, that word) in John Updike's openhearted foreword to his collection The Early Stories, 1953– 1975 is his book's missing dedication. 'Perhaps I could have made a go of the literary business without my first wife's faith, forbearance, sensitivity, and good sense, but I cannot imagine how.' Indeed, the figure of the first wife recurs throughout Updike's narrative work, and throughout this book, especially in its closing stories where, in whatever incarnation Updike fashions her, she is both vivid and benign—a sister, a conscience, an aspect of self, a fellow witness, a pal. Thus one might conclude that this huge compilation of 'early' stories, which Updike wrote over a twenty-two-year period for money as well as art (selling them to The New Yorker was his 'principal means of support, for a family that by 1960 included four children under six'), is largely about the getting, having, and leaving of the first wife, the straight American man's grab, and grab again, at happiness.
Review, 4170 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |