John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic.Updike's most famous work is his "Rabbit" series (the novels Rabbit, Run; Rabbit Redux; Rabbit Is Rich; Rabbit At Rest; and the novella "Rabbit Remembered"), which chronicles the life of the middle-class everyman Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom over the course of several decades, from young adulthood to death. Both Rabbit Is Rich (1982) and Rabbit At Rest (1990) were recognized with the Pulitzer Prize. Updike is one of only three authors (the others were Booth Tarkington and William Faulkner) to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once. He published more than twenty novels and more than a dozen short story collections, as well as poetry, art criticism, literary criticism and children's books. Hundreds of his stories, reviews, and poems appeared in The New Yorker, starting in 1954. He also wrote regularly for The New York Review of Books.Describing his subject as "the American small town, Protestant middle class," Updike was well recognized for his careful craftsmanship, his unique prose style, and his prolificity. He wrote on average a book a year. Updike populated his fiction with characters who "frequently experience personal turmoil and must respond to crises relating to religion, family obligations, and marital infidelity." His fiction is distinguished by its attention to the concerns, passions, and suffering of average Americans; its emphasis on Christian theology; and its preoccupation with sexuality and sensual detail. His work has attracted a significant amount of critical attention and praise, and he is widely considered to be one of the great American writers of his time. Updike's highly distinctive prose style features a rich, unusual, sometimes arcane vocabulary as conveyed through the eyes of "a wry, intelligent authorial voice" that extravagantly describes the physical world, while remaining squarely in the realist tradition. He described his style as an attempt "to give the mundane its beautiful due."
Harvard University, Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, Harvard College, Governor Mifflin Senior High School
Nationality
American
Spouse
Martha Bernhard, Mary Entwistle Pennington
Children
Elizabeth Pennington Updike, Michael John Updike, David Hoyer Updike, Miranda Margaret Updike
Parents
Wesley Russell Updike, Linda Grace Hoyer
Awards
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, National Book Award for Fiction, PEN/Malamud Award, Rea Award for the Short Story, Jefferson Lecture, National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, Helmerich Award, St. Louis Litera...
Nominations
Man Booker International Prize, Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, National Book Award for Fiction (Paperback)
Movies
The Witches of Eastwick, The Music School, The Roommate, Ted Williams, Pigeon Feathers
Star Sign
Pisces
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Quote
1
Celebrity is a mask that eats into the face.
2
Creativity is merely a plus name for regular activity. Any pastime becomes creative when we care about doing it right, and/or better.
3
With the waning of everything, with the waning of the sexual drive, the witch capacity, there probably goes a certain lessening of artistic passion. I suppose I feel that in my own work. The world would really be none the worse if I were not to write anymore. But I keep wanting to do it, in part to fill the time. I don't know what you've found, but nothing makes the time pass so much as writing. You look up, and two hours have gone by! You know? It's a wonderful antidote to boredom or dullness.
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Fact
1
Inducted into the Beverly [Massachusetts] Hall of Fame in 1982.
2
In his later life, he lived in Beverly Farms, Massachusetts.
Debut novel titled: The Carpentered Hen and Other Tame Creatures (1958).
5
Probably best known for his Rabbit books, proving he favors naturalism and realism in his writing. "Rabbit Is Rich" (1981) and "Rabbit At Rest" (1990) both won the Pulitzer Prize.
6
He was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts in 1989 by the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington D.C.
7
Biography/bibliography in: "Contemporary Authors". New Revision Series, Vol. 133, pp. 421-432. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005.
8
Petitioned for the release of the legendary Sergei Parajanov from Ukrainian prisons.
9
His book, "The Witches of Eastwick", was adapted to a West End musical and performed at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London, and was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best New Musical in 2001 (2000 season).
10
He thought he was dying during his first attack of breathlessness in his twenties. The diagnosis was bronchial asthma, aggravated by his cats.
11
Updike has won almost every major literature award, except the Nobel prize.
12
Born at 6:00am-EST
Writer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Eastwick
TV Series book - 11 episodes, 2009 - 2010 book "The Witches of Eastwick" - 2 episodes, 2009 - 2010
Ted Williams
2009
TV Movie documentary essay "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu"
Eastwick
2002
TV Movie characters
A & P
1996
Short story
The Witches of Eastwick
1992
TV Movie novel
American Playhouse
TV Series story - 1 episode, 1988 novel "The Christian Roommate" - 1 episode, 1984
The Witches of Eastwick
1987
novel
Gyere hozzám feleségül
1987
TV Movie
Too Far to Go
1979
TV Movie short stories
The Music School
1974
TV Short story
Rabbit, Run
1970
novel
Miscellaneous
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Witches of Eastwick
1987
creative consultant - uncredited
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
This Week
2006
TV Series
Himself
Top Hat and Tales: Harold Ross and the Making of the New Yorker
2001
Documentary
Himself
The Simpsons
2000
TV Series
Himself
Charlie Rose
2000
TV Series
Himself
The Century: America's Time
1999
TV Mini-Series documentary
Himself - Author / Himself
LeseZeichen
1999
TV Series documentary
Himself
John Updike: In His Own Words
1997
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Good Morning America
1992
TV Series
Himself
Doris Day: A Sentimental Journey
1991
TV Movie documentary
Himself
The Dick Cavett Show
1981
TV Series
Himself
The David Frost Show
1969-1970
TV Series
Himself
Archive Footage
Title
Year
Status
Character
DRUNK STONED BRILLIANT DEAD: The Story of the National Lampoon