John Updike says: Any act of description is, to some extent, an act of praise, so that even when the event is unpleasant or horrifying or spiritually stunning, the very attempt to describe it is, in some way, part of that Old Testament injunction to give praise. Even though my books strike many people as immoral or morally useless, to me they are really moral investigations of how we live, and harsh, perhaps, because the standards are otherworldly. There was a tradition among my peers for frank and open talk, and I'd always been a rather shy, priggish, unexperienced adolescent. So maybe my...

Updike remains both a critical and popular success; however, because Updike asked that his personal letters not be published the only way that Updike scholars and fans can read more of the author s candid and insightful remarks is to revisit some of the many interviews he granted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...

John 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 novels in his home state. In John Updike's Pennsylvania Interviews James Plath has compiled the first collection of interviews that illustrates the bond between author and his beloved Pennsylvania.

This book identifies 100 of the most intriguing characters from some of the most well-known novels published over several centuries, from Hester Prynne and Harry Potter to Jay Gatsby and T.S. Garp. The book profiles these memorable characters and details their significance both at the time they were created and today.