Monday, February 9, 2009

John Updike Remembered on NPR

John Updike, the often celebrated, gifted and prolific writer, died on January 27th 2009. Curiously, I was downloading an audio book version of the Witches of Eastwick on the night he died. On the January 28th episode of Fresh Air on NPR, excerpts from three interviews with Terry Gross were played in remembrance of the man and his work.  He was an eloquent, honest speaker (despite an earlier struggle with stuttering), a strikingly thoughtful man, and often very funny as well as insightful.

During the course of three conversations, he discussed writing and how issues in his life informed his work, how his ideas came to him and took shape, his response to criticism, etc.  He was a gracious and most interesting interview subject.  If you missed it, go to Fresh Air.Com, NPR.Com or I Tunes and download the FreshAir episode from January 28, 2009.  A wonderful series of interviews to contemplate.

1 comment:

  1. You may also want to check out the Feb 9, 2009 issue of The New Yorker magazine which has remembrances of Updike by his colleagues Adam Gopnik and Roger Angell. It also has 45 selections of his fiction, poetry, memoirs and essays from his more than 800 contributions to the magazine over 55 years and a charming photograph.

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