The Great American Writer - John Updike (1932-2009)

Dear John.

It's hard to imagine a world without you. You were one of the major reasons I studied literature in college and I'm sure many others share that same connection. The consistent excellence displayed in your body of works is unmatched in American letters (stop blushing because it's true). I believe there'll be a time in the near future when college lit courses devote whole terms to your works and not just pick out one or two of your prize winning short stories. And you deserve that recognition. Anyone who reads your works will gain a new appreciation for the beauty of the English language while in the hands of a master. For all your education and sophistication, you never spoke down to your audience and you always showed us readers great respect. Was it your Pennsylvania roots that gave you a humanist decency? Your parents? A teacher or a preacher? However it came about, you seemed to genuinely love people and particularly us middle-class, Midwesterners who were often the focus of your fiction.

The picture I chose for this posting is how I wish to remember you. There was always a twinkle in your prose and your criticism. You could make us smile with the turn of a poetic phrase or guffaw at a whimsical piece of criticism. When I read such lines, I always imagined you writing them with an expression just like the one in that picture.

Goodbye John.

Love,
A2 Guy