The Other John Updike Archive

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Page 1 July 13, 1972 Final Night of the Democratic National Convention     Johnny And Mary Johnnys always running around Trying to find certainty He needs all the world to confirm That he aint lonely Mary counts the walls Knows he tires easilyJohnny thinks the world would be right If it could buy truth […]

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  Many  years later he still appears to to be intrigued by novel ideas (or ideas for a novel?)

Updike found a nuance in the New Testament that he saw as sorely lacking in the Old. His theology made explicit in his last days may be responsible for the embargo of his final work (until2029) on the foundations of Christianity and the militant theology of Saint Paul (whom he concluded got it right). Updike […]

Updikes old address book with childs (?) writing: I want to go back to Ipswich and I miss you 4 Highland Ave Ipswich Mass. The ink isnt Updikes could the pencil be be his?   Check for Mothers trust?

  “Saying that cultural objects have value,” Brian Eno once wrote, “is like saying that telephones have conversations.” Nearly all the cultural objects we consume arrive wrapped in inherited opinion; our preferences are always, to some extent, someone else’s. Visitors to the “Mona Lisa” know they are about to visit the greatest work of art […]

  CELEBRITY ATTRACTS ATTENTION. GOOD AND BAD.  

Giving the mundane its beautiful due John Updike Attention is what creates value. Artworks are made as well by how people interact with them — and therefore by what quality of interaction they can inspire. So how do we assess an artist who we suspect is dreadful but who manages to inspire the right storm […]