American Talent
The Greatest That Made It Great
American ingenuity architects
A chronicle of brilliance
Author John Updike won the Pulitzer Prize
John Updike's writing is notable for its ability to convey the subtlety of life's beauty, agony, and absurdity. The promises and disappointments of the American Dream are explored in a profound way in his award-winning "Rabbit" series. Updike's legacy, as a master of the written word and a keen observer of mankind, exemplifies the best of American literature and its place in world culture.
John Updike has established his place as one of the all-time great American novelists with his meticulously researched depictions of American society. Updike's remarkable career lasted five decades, earning him two Pulitzer Prizes and showcasing his uncanny ability to describe the complexities of the human condition.
Updike spent his formative years in Shillington, Pennsylvania, despite being born in Reading. The little communities of the American Northeast would go on to become a recurring motif in his later works. Updike attended Harvard University after graduating as co-valedictorian and class president from Shillington High School, where he further developed his writing skills.
Updike is best known for his "Rabbit" series of novels. The four novels and a novella that began with 1960's "Rabbit, Run" follow the lives of Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom, a former high school basketball star who must now deal with the difficulties of adulthood. Updike is one of only four authors to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once, for both "Rabbit Is Rich" (1982) and "Rabbit at Rest" (1990).
Updike's style and themes are well-known for their meticulous research and sharp commentary on contemporary American culture. His stories dealt with issues including sexuality, religion, and the shifting social landscape of the United States. Most of Updike's works take place in the post-war era, and his protagonists are often middle-class people struggling with questions of self-identity, lost hope, and existential dread.
Not only did Updike win two Pulitzer Prizes, but he also won the National Book Award, the PEN/Faulkner Award, and the National Medal of Arts. His works are admired not simply for their literary quality, but also as astute comments on 20th-century American society.
Updike's legacy lives on in the works of modern writers like David Foster Wallace and Jonathan Franzen, whose characters and suburban settings reflect, in varying degrees, Updike's own.
Updike spent his formative years in Shillington, Pennsylvania, despite being born in Reading. The little communities of the American Northeast would go on to become a recurring motif in his later works. Updike attended Harvard University after graduating as co-valedictorian and class president from Shillington High School, where he further developed his writing skills.
Updike is best known for his "Rabbit" series of novels. The four novels and a novella that began with 1960's "Rabbit, Run" follow the lives of Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom, a former high school basketball star who must now deal with the difficulties of adulthood. Updike is one of only four authors to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once, for both "Rabbit Is Rich" (1982) and "Rabbit at Rest" (1990).
Updike's style and themes are well-known for their meticulous research and sharp commentary on contemporary American culture. His stories dealt with issues including sexuality, religion, and the shifting social landscape of the United States. Most of Updike's works take place in the post-war era, and his protagonists are often middle-class people struggling with questions of self-identity, lost hope, and existential dread.
Not only did Updike win two Pulitzer Prizes, but he also won the National Book Award, the PEN/Faulkner Award, and the National Medal of Arts. His works are admired not simply for their literary quality, but also as astute comments on 20th-century American society.
Updike's legacy lives on in the works of modern writers like David Foster Wallace and Jonathan Franzen, whose characters and suburban settings reflect, in varying degrees, Updike's own.
