http://accismus.com/2009/07/26/ive-been-reading-of-the-farm/ I don't crave the warmth of your unconditional approval. Sat, 21 Apr 2012 22:29:35 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://accismus.com/2009/07/26/ive-been-reading-of-the-farm/#comment-2076 Fri, 14 Aug 2009 19:21:48 +0000 http://accismus.wordpress.com/?p=665#comment-2076 Thanks for your suggestions. I will check out Pigeon Feathers – so far, I’ve only read Updike’s more recently published New Yorker stories, which everyone agrees are not representative. (And yes, eventually, I’m sure I will read at least one of the Rabbit novels, but it might be awhile before I get around to them.)

]]> http://accismus.com/2009/07/26/ive-been-reading-of-the-farm/#comment-2075 Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:40:46 +0000 http://accismus.wordpress.com/?p=665#comment-2075 If you want to give Updike a fair shot read two of his more famous pieces. ‘Rabbit Run’ is a great work of American fiction – and one of the first things he did to put him in bad odor with feminists. But it is absolutely worthwhile and a great pleasure to read. Also, his short story ‘Pigeon Feathers’ – only about twenty pages long but wonderful stuff. Nothing objectionable there, I think, but it touches on some of Updike’s main themes (religion, mortality) in an especially compelling way. The butterfly passage you quote may well have been written tongue-in-cheek. But Updike wrote so goddamn much that not all of it is by any means of the highest quality. Updike said that English prose should only be written “ecstatically” – which means, yes, he’s a bit florid sometimes, but in the tradition, I think, of the Great God Melville, to whom we all bow down and sing praises forever and ever Amen. [smile]

]]>