It is often only after dinner has been cooked and all the spices put away that I travel back into my office to learn how the rest of the world has fared throughout the day. So that I did not know until late last night about the passing of John Updike. It took my breath away. It seemed wrong, not yet his time, for how Updike still gleams in his poignant October interview with Sam Tannenhaus at the New York Times, how gloriously that white hair still shines. Even as Updike suggests that perhaps it is time to step away from the writerly task. Even as he confesses the "stickiness" that attends the writing of an historical novel. Even as he notes the prevailing glory and glamor of youth.
It feels personal with me and John Updike. Not because I've loved or even read all 61 of his books, but because he always represented to me the potential elegance of the writerly self. In 1998, when I knew next to nothing about books but somehow found myself seated at the National Book Awards, it was Updike who spoke that night about the inherent physical beauty of books and type. I looked at the enterprise differently after that. I never opened another book without feeling its particular weight or noting the width of its margins or the roundness or sharpness of its letters "b," "w," "a."
So may the great man of letters rest in peace. In his own work, and in the reviews he wrote about the work of others, he had and has so much to teach.
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By: Beth Kephart ,
on 1/28/2009
Blog: Beth Kephart Books (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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By: Beth Kephart ,
on 1/28/2009
Blog: Beth Kephart Books (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: New York Times, National Book Awards, John Updike, Sam Tannenhaustarget="_blank", the beauty of the book, Add a tag
7 Comments on John Updike and the Beauty of the Book, last added: 1/29/2009
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I'm actually reading his memoir, Self Consciousness.
What a legend. What a loss.
I haven't even gone to any news sites yet today, so reading this was a shock to me. I've read a couple of his books and liked some more than others, but always respected his writing. What a sad day.
Yes! The beauty of the book and its paper and ink and font and fabric. Never an electronic substitute...no. (At least for me.)
And look at that photo - wow. Stunning.
XO
Anna
Oh! I remember seeing this elsewhere. May he rest in peace.
Your first sentence helped me to know that at least you are eating, if not sleeping. :)
What a cool remembrance. Thank you~
Vivian, I hope to know more about that memoir. Anna, I'm with you (NO SUBSTITUTES). Maya, I'm still a bit stumbled around by this. Sherry, I do indeed try to cook a good meal this evening. Let's see: This week it has been those mini lamb chops, then a pasta dish, then rainbow trout, then a turkey hash this evening. Tomorrow is salmon. After that, I'm going out... :)
Yum, I'll be over.
(The above was me using the wrong account.)