John Updike

For this assignment I chose John Updike to review his biography and works. Since he is the one who put together this collaberation of short stories, I thought it might be useful to understand who he is as a writer himself. This might give a better perspective on the stories we read for class, including the story he contributed called "Gesturing." I've also read some of his short stories before and they have made a great impression on me.

Updike was born in Reading, Pennsylvania but lived in a town outside of Reading called Shillington. During his childhood he suffered from psoriasis and stammering, so through encouragment from this mother he pursued writing and reading. Updike attended Harvard where he pursued a degree in English, and spent some time in England at Oxford with his wife, Mary Pennington. He has written numerous short stories, novels and poetry, a lot of which is set in New England where he resides outside of Boston. A renown writer, Updike holds many awards and has written a great deal of literary criticism for authors such as Kurt Vonnegut and Joyce Carol Oats.

http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/updike.htm