tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post6267167021712459233..comments2023-11-03T11:32:01.540+00:00Comments on Thought Experiments : The Blog: John UpdikeBryan Appleyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08276787058430388582noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-8029021250943303392009-01-30T18:08:00.000+00:002009-01-30T18:08:00.000+00:00Here's Amis on Updike the literary journalist: [hi...Here's Amis on Updike the literary journalist: [his] inestimable virtue: having read him once, you admit to yourself, almost with a sigh, that you will have to read everything he writes.NigelBealehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06094387597632333192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-20411786524847791442009-01-29T11:17:00.000+00:002009-01-29T11:17:00.000+00:00I love/hate Amis's fiction, even while I'm reading...I love/hate Amis's fiction, even while I'm reading it. It astounds, irritates and exhausts in equal measure.<BR/><BR/>But I thought his strange autobiography Experience was the best thing he's written by a factor of a lot.Brithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-35254264640095705962009-01-29T10:29:00.000+00:002009-01-29T10:29:00.000+00:00Ps. I think Amis' *non*fiction is better. Suum cui...Ps. I think Amis' *non*fiction is better. Suum cuique. <BR/><BR/>But have you tried The Information!Benjaminhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12539078553577303937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-7833348426619444892009-01-29T10:27:00.000+00:002009-01-29T10:27:00.000+00:00Bellow called Nabokov a 'wicked wizard'. I prefer ...Bellow called Nabokov a 'wicked wizard'. I prefer this.Benjaminhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12539078553577303937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-974371107158467392009-01-28T22:41:00.000+00:002009-01-28T22:41:00.000+00:00I am a relative of Updike and shall be writing his...I am a relative of Updike and shall be writing his definitive obituary this week. I know it is keenly awaited...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-46078477733277813632009-01-28T22:28:00.000+00:002009-01-28T22:28:00.000+00:00"I read Amis once, on Stalin."His fiction is much ..."I read Amis once, on Stalin."<BR/><BR/>His fiction is much better.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-80330842000370150382009-01-28T16:11:00.000+00:002009-01-28T16:11:00.000+00:00I came over assuming I'd receive concise insight o...I came over assuming I'd receive concise insight on one of so many I've never read. Exactly so. Thanks.<BR/><BR/>How does Updike compare to Bellow? Where is Amis in the pecking order? (I read Amis once, on Stalin. Assume nothing else.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-26931640725617378402009-01-28T14:41:00.000+00:002009-01-28T14:41:00.000+00:00Thought for the day:There is an incessant influx o...Thought for the day:<BR/><BR/>There is an incessant influx of novelty into the world, and yet we tolerate incredible dullness.<BR/><BR/> Updike, <I>Villages</I>, 2005jonathan lawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05986943428040953041noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-6510924204410886512009-01-28T14:04:00.000+00:002009-01-28T14:04:00.000+00:00It is a loss. I interviewed Updike years ago and ...It is a loss. I interviewed Updike years ago and managed to irritate him by first saying I thought he was a direct descendant of America's Puritan writers (I meant Nathaniel Hawthorne, et al, but he thought I was saying he was a prude), and then I made my gaffe worse by saying I didn't like the Rabbit novels as I found them misogynistic in a middle-class-white-suburban male way. It wasn't a Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-48014877884723736922009-01-28T09:40:00.000+00:002009-01-28T09:40:00.000+00:00Is that so? Interesting, but a bit of a let-down. ...Is that so? Interesting, but a bit of a let-down. After all, anyone could have been a literal pupil of Nabakov, at college.Brithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-73884162299286572192009-01-28T09:17:00.000+00:002009-01-28T09:17:00.000+00:00He literally was, Brit, at college.He literally was, Brit, at college.Bryan Appleyardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08276787058430388582noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-18784804690073689572009-01-28T09:13:00.000+00:002009-01-28T09:13:00.000+00:00The first of his I read was A Month of Sundays, ab...The first of his I read was A Month of Sundays, about the randy Reverend. I was about fifteen so it made quite an impression, obviously. <BR/><BR/>Another era draws to a close.<BR/><BR/>I'm intrigued by the idea that a novelist like Updike can be a 'pupil' of Nabakov, or indeed, anyone. How does it work? Martin Amis always claims Saul Bellow as a mentor figure but I've never quite got that one Brithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com