John Updike's Pennsylvania Interviews

Edited by James Plath

Publication date:

26 August 2016

Length of book:

294 pages

Publisher

Lehigh University Press

ISBN-13: 9781611461053

Updike remains both a critical and popular success; however, because Updike asked that his personal letters not be published the only way that Updike scholars and fans can read more of the author’s candid and insightful remarks is to revisit some of the many interviews he granted—most of which are difficult to locate or obtain. Updike wrote about his home town of Reading in Berks County, Pennsylvania for much of his adult life, setting most of his early fiction and all of his award-winning novels in his home state. In John Updike’s Pennsylvania Interviews, James Plath has compiled the first collection of interviews that illustrates and helps to explain the bond between one of America’s greatest literary talents and his beloved Pennsylvania.

Included in this volume are interviews and articles by Mark Abrams, Leonard W. Boasberg, Carl W. Brown, Jr., David Cheshire, Marty Crisp, Sean Diviny, John Mark Eberhart, William Ecenbarger, Elizabeth Greenwood, Ruth Heimbuecher, Dorothy Lehman Hoerr, Jim Homan, Tom Knapp, Karen L. Miller, Steve Neal, Richard E. Nicholls, Sanford Pinsker, James Plath, Bruce Posten, Carole Reber, Pamela Rohland, Carlin Romano, Daniel Rubin, Stephan Salisbury, Charles R. Shaw, Ellen Sulkis, Heather Thomas, Stanley J. Watkins, Michael L. Wentzel, and Robert F. Zissa.

Acknowledgments

Introduction: John Updike and Pennsylvania by James Plath

1) “Berks County Game: Find Yourself in John Updike’s Books”: An article for The Sunday Bulletin Magazine by Ellen Sulkis (1965)

2) “Updike Visits School”: An article for Reading Times by Michael L. Wentzel (1968)

3) “John Updike Reminiscences in ‘Olinger’”: An article for Reading Eagle by Stanley J. Watkins (1968)

4) “Rabbit, Run Author Blending of Parents, says Eagle Writer after Meeting Updikes”: An article for Reading Eagle by Carole Reber (1969)

5) “Updike, Impish Poet, Admits Playful Verse”: An article for Pittsburgh Press by Ruth Heimbuecher (1969)

6) “Updike Talks of His Work, and Film”: An article for Reading Eagle by Elizabeth Greenwood (1970)

7) “Buchanan’s Obscurity Inspired Updike Play”: An article for Intelligencer Journal by Charles R. Shaw (1974)

8) “Updike: “Final Homage” Paid to His State”: An article for ThePhiladelphia Inquirer by Steve Neal (1974)

9) “Updike Discusses Reading”: An article for Reading Eagle by Robert F. Zissa (1977)

10) “Is Updike up to His Literary Tricks?”: An article for Reading Eagle by Heather Thomas (1980)

11) “John Updike: A Small-Town Boy Who Tried to Make the Most of What He Had”: As heard on The Listener; written by David Cheshire (1982)

12) “Updike at Moravian College”: A Public Q&A (1982)

13) “ ‘Rabbit’ Evolves”: An article for the The Comenian by Sean Diviny (1982)

14) “Distinguished Artist: Another Honor Is Bestowed on Updike”: A Reading Times editorial (1983)

15) “Profiles in Excellence: John Updike”: A WPSU-TV Penn State University video segment (1983)
16) “Updike Is Home”: An article for The Inquirer Sunday Magazine by William Ecenbarger (1983)

17) “For TV, Updike Returns to His Roots in Pennsylvania”: An article for ThePhiladelphia Inquirer by Richard E. Nicholls (1983)

18) “A Look into the Work and World of Updike”: An article for The Philadelphia Inquirer by Leonard W. Boasberg (1984)

19) “Updike Mixes Sex, God and Technology”: An article for ThePhiladelphia Inquirer by Stephan Salisbury (1986)

20) “Fresh Air with Terry Gross: John Updike (S.)”: As heard on Fresh Air with Terry Gross (1988)

21) “Fresh Air with Terry Gross: John Updike (Self-Consciousness)”: As heard on Fresh Air with Terry Gross (1988)

22) “Updike Remembered”: An article for Reading Eagle Times by Pamela Rohland (1989)

23) “Updike Pays ‘Debt’ to Library with a Special Group of Books”: An article for Reading Times by Mark Abrams (1989)

24) “John Updike, Traveling Wordsmith”: An article for The Philadelphia Inquirer by Daniel Rubin (1989)

25) “Updike Reflects on ‘Shillington Thoughts’”: An article for the Reading Eagle by Karen L. Miller (1989)

26) “Fresh Air with Terry Gross: John Updike (Rabbit at Rest”): As heard on Fresh Air with Terry Gross (1990)

27) “A Writing Mother and Son”: A Public Q&A (1991)

28) “Updike Pays Homage to Mom”: An article for Reading Eagle Times by Carl W. Brown, Jr. (1991)

29) “Fresh Air with Terry Gross: John Updike (Memories of the Ford Administration)”: As heard on Fresh Air with Terry Gross (1992)

30) “Fresh Air with Terry Gross: John Updike (Brazil)”: As heard on Fresh Air with Terry Gross (1994)

31) “Defrocking the Muse”: An article for Sunday News by Marty Crisp (1996)

32) “The Art of Fiction: A Conversation with John Updike” An article for The Sewanee Review by Sanford Pinsker (1996)

33) “Updike Visits Memory Lane; Famed Author Reads for Packed House at F&M”: An article for Intelligencer Journal by Tom Knapp (1996)

34) “Fresh Air with Terry Gross: John Updike (In the Beauty of the Lilies)”: As heard on Fresh Air with Terry Gross (1996)

35) “Fresh Air with Terry Gross: John Updike (Toward the End of Time)”: As heard on Fresh Air with Terry Gross (1997)

36) “Fresh Air with Terry Gross: John Updike (Just Looking)”: As heard on Fresh Air with Terry Gross (1998)

37) “Fresh Air with Terry Gross: John Updike (Bech at Bay)”: As heard on Fresh Air with Terry Gross (1998)

38) “Prize Winner Tours Boyhood Home”: An article for the Reading Times by Jim Homan (1999)

39) “Updike Returns to the Nest”: An article for Reading Eagle by Elizabeth Greenwood (2000)

40)“‘Rabbit’” in Retrospect: An article for Reading Eagle by John Mark Eberhart (2004)

41) “In the Limelight: Shillington Native, World-Renown Author John Updike”: An article for Berks County Living by Dorothy Lehman Hoerr (2004)

42) “An Attendee’s Report on Updike’s Appearance at Montgomery County Community College on November 5”: An article for The Centaurian by Dorothy Lehman Hoerr (2004)

43) “The Playful Literary Legend”: An article for The Philadelphia Inquirer by Carlin Romano (2007)

44) “Will the Real ‘Rabbit’ Angstrom Please Stand Up?”: An article for Reading Eagle by Bruce Posten (2009)

Conclusion: Updike and the Pennsylvania “Essence” by James Plath

Bibliography

Index

About the Author

Once again, Jim Plath delivers a deeply engaging and important collection of Updike interviews. Stitching together 44 profiles and interviews conducted by a range of figures–Terry Gross, local journalists from the Reading Eagle, a high school student–Plath, who adds his own introductory and concluding observations, proves a knowledgeable and emotionally invested guide. Native Son will appeal not only to general readers, academics, and students, but to those interested in listening to a writer who could string together sentences as beautifully as any figure from American literature. In taking its author back to the state he left in 1950, Native Son is a homecoming story that casts a spell and radiates with Updike’s life-long affection for Pennsylvania. Plath has been a major player in Updike studies, and his latest effort should be required reading for those wishing to know more about the wunderkind from Shillington.