John Updike
John Updike was an American novelist, short story writer, and critic known for elegant prose and exploration of middle-class American life.
His Rabbit series followed one man through four decades of suburban existence.
Updike wrote prolifically for The New Yorker and won two Pulitzer Prizes.
His work examined marriage, sexuality, and Protestant faith with psychological precision.
Elite American letters award
- suburbiaResidential areas outside cities
- adulteryMarried person's sexual betrayal
- middle-classIntermediate socioeconomic group
- American literatureU.S. written works
sexuality · characterization · Protestant · Pennsylvania · Brewer · tetralogy · infidelity · domesticity
Imagined narrative work
- short storiesBrief prose narratives
- The New YorkerHighbrow American magazine
- craftsmanshipSkill in making objects
- styleDistinctive way of expression
voice · narrative · dialogue · sentences · descriptive · elegance · precision · lyricism
Metered poetic passage
- light verseHumorous, often rhyming poetry
- rhymeMatching terminal sounds
- meterDevice that measures usage
- imageryVivid descriptive language
stanza · couplet · wordplay · Americana · nostalgia · domesticity · lyric · rhythm
Author of short prose
- reviewCritical written assessment
- commentaryExplanatory remarks on events
- literary criticismAnalyzing and evaluating fiction
- art criticismAnalyzing visual creative works
book review · assessment · interpretation · perspective · editorial · opinion · evaluation · cultural commentary
Pulitzer Prize
Elite American letters award
- suburbiaResidential areas outside cities
- adulteryMarried person's sexual betrayal
- middle-classIntermediate socioeconomic group
American literature · sexuality · characterization · Protestant · Pennsylvania · Brewer · tetralogy · infidelity · domesticity · prolific
fiction
Imagined narrative work
- short storiesBrief prose narratives
- The New YorkerHighbrow American magazine
- craftsmanshipSkill in making objects
style · voice · narrative · dialogue · sentences · descriptive · elegance · precision · lyricism · realism
verse
Metered poetic passage
- light verseHumorous, often rhyming poetry
- rhymeMatching terminal sounds
- meterDevice that measures usage
imagery · stanza · couplet · wordplay · Americana · nostalgia · domesticity · lyric · rhythm
essayist
Author of short prose
- reviewCritical written assessment
- commentaryExplanatory remarks on events
- literary criticismAnalyzing and evaluating fiction
art criticism · book review · assessment · interpretation · perspective · editorial · opinion · evaluation · cultural commentary · erudition
- Authors Starting with U
- NovelistsStephen King, Agatha Christie, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen
- Authors JJ.R.R. Tolkien, Jane Austen, James Patterson, Jack London, James Joyce
- 20th Century AuthorsErnest Hemingway, Hemingway, William Faulkner, Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald
- American WritersToni Morrison, Philip Roth, Cormac McCarthy, Thomas Pynchon, Anne Tyler
- Ivy League AlumniBarack Obama, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, George W. Bush, Al Gore
John UpdikeErnest Hemingway
minimalism · Cormac McCarthy · Samuel Beckett · Thomas Pynchon · experimental fiction
John UpdikeToni Morrison
"Song of Solomon"
James Baldwin · Sandra Cisneros · Charles Bukowski · Colson Whitehead · Zora Neale Hurston
John UpdikeMargaret Atwood
Toni Morrison · Alice Munro · Virginia Woolf · feminist fiction · Sylvia Plath