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John Updike: Life and Literary Impact

John Updike was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, poet, and literary critic. He is considered one of the great American writers of the 20th century. Most of Updike's novels centered around religion, sex, and the American middle class. He was a prolific writer who composed numerous poems, short stories, essays, and literary criticisms in addition to his major novels. Some interesting facts about Updike include that he won awards for his depictions of sex in literature, identified as a lifelong religious believer despite experiencing a crisis of faith early in his career, and had several of his novels adapted into films and television shows.

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147 views2 pages

John Updike: Life and Literary Impact

John Updike was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, poet, and literary critic. He is considered one of the great American writers of the 20th century. Most of Updike's novels centered around religion, sex, and the American middle class. He was a prolific writer who composed numerous poems, short stories, essays, and literary criticisms in addition to his major novels. Some interesting facts about Updike include that he won awards for his depictions of sex in literature, identified as a lifelong religious believer despite experiencing a crisis of faith early in his career, and had several of his novels adapted into films and television shows.

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Vika Filimonchik
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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JOHN UPDIKE

Prepared by Victoria Filimonova

Group 602

Good morning dear audience. Today Id like to tell you about John Updike. My
presentation consists of 2 points:
- Some brief information about John Updike
- 5 interesting facts about john updike
Considered one of the greatest American writers of the twentieth century, John Updike was
a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner author and was also the recipient of many prestigious
literary awards. A prodigious and prolific writer, most of Updikes novels center on
religion, sex and the American middle class. Talking about average American people, he
once said, "I like middles. It is in middles that extremes clash, where ambiguity restlessly
rules." Updikes prose style has always been the highlight of his novels for its "rich
description and language," making it almost inimitable. However, his novels are not his
only major works. He was an equally good poet and short story writer. He has a composed
huge number of poems, written a large number of short stories and essays and literary
criticisms.
1) He couldnt write sex scenes.
Updike was famous for his depiction of sex; in November 2008, he won a lifetime
achievement award at the Literary Review's annual Bad Sex in Fiction award, which
celebrates "crude, tasteless or ridiculous sexual passages in modern literature".
2) He was a self-styled Knight of Faith.
Brought up in a Pennsylvania Protestant tradition, Updike, like a host of his
contemporaries, experienced a crisis of faith early in his writing career. Unlike the myriad
of atheist and agnostic writers with whom he stands shoulder-to-shoulder in the American
canon, however, Updike came out the other end as a lifelong believer.

3) Hes one of only three novelists to win two Pulitzers.

The other two? Booth Tarkington and William Faulkner; not such bad company to enter
for an aspiring legend of American letters. Nearly as impressive is the fact that he remains
one of precious few authors to have swept the three major American literary prizes in one
year, winning the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics
Circle Award for his 1980 novel Rabbit is Rich.

4.) His influence extends beyond Literature and into Rap Music

Or at least, Eminem has read the first installment in Updikes Rabbit tetrology, Rabbit,
Run (1960)
5) Many of his novels have been adapted for movies and television for their visual
appeal and proximity to the lives of Americans. He wrote The Witches of Eastwick (1984),
which was turned into a movie in 1987 starring Cher, Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer
and Susan Sarandon. In 2009, it was turned into a television show starring Rebecca
Romijn.
So, John Hoyer Updike was an American writer, poet, literary critic and novelist.

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