Comments on: Novelist John Updike dies at 76

By: Scroop Moth

Scroop Moth — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 03:56:33 +0000

I think readers of this blog would love Updike’s wide-ranging collections of essays, at least up to More Matter, which is the latest that I’ve read. Besides reading across the historical span of literature, Updike has a precise and subtle understanding of theological topics which are of interest to Evangelicals. He devotes an essay or two to such themes in each collection. You can buy used copies on Amazon for little more than the cost of shipping.

Here’s a link to the unforgettable, 2,800-word story, “A&P”. It’s as concise as the Gettysburg Address, as prophetic against the ancien régime as the Declaration of Independence, and as universal in its containment of passion, anger, and pity, as anything in Tolstoy.

http://www.tiger-town.com/whatnot/updike/

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By: mmacmurray

mmacmurray — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 03:09:18 +0000

Thanks for posting this, Mickey. I’ve read some of Updike’s books but Seven Stanzas at Easter is the first I’ve read of his poetry. What an amazing poem.

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By: mumsee

mumsee — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 01:19:55 +0000

That is an incredible message in that poem. Well said John Updike. I hope to meet you there and learn what caused you to write such a poem. It is His call as only He knows the heart. May his family find peace in the Truth. His comments above are what one of my daughters was talking with me about last night. It is tough but God will see us through.

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