Updike

Nov 27, 2003

In Idaho, I used to rummage through the closet, which, among other items, contained the Sony television that busted when my dad cursed the pope, or so the story goes. I remember coming across a book titled Rabbit, Run, a novel by John Updike. With that memory in mind, I decided to read Louis Menand’s review of a collection of Updike short stories. Whoa. What a great essay this turned out to be, about golf and writing and reading and the greatness of great short story writers. Here’s one good line to mull on:

The difficulty of putting into words the effect a story produces is part of the point. The story is words; the effect is wordless, or, at best, whoa.

Anton Zuiker ☄