The death of noted author John Updike has left the world a little emptier for me. He is a writer I’ve enjoyed on a personal level and one whose work has enriched the Barrington Public Library’s literary discussion series for many, many years. The literature he produced presents a calvalcade of sense impressions, myth, dreams and reality that reflect post-WWII American Society on up to a minute ago with uncanny accuracy and insight. Better, he is a writer who makes you think about the world in a way that might not have occured to you previously. One short story of his, “Packed Dirt, Churchgoing, a Dying Cat, a Traded Car” from Pigeon Feathers and Other Stories, deals with some of the very modest ways people forge their paths in the world, and how, unconscious as these are, they reflect a sense of human presence and human community.
We make our mark and that is good.
He made his mark and it was good. I for one will miss him very much.
Perhaps you will do some rereading of his canon along with me? Select Updike, John as a subject in the Library's catalog on our website or at the Library. This entry will help you track down Updike’s essays, poetry, drawings and world-class fiction.
-Lauri Burke
