Sue Norton & Laurence W. Mazzeno 
European Perspectives on John Updike [PDF ebook] 

A collection of essays that perceive Updike’s America through the eyes of Western and Eastern European readers and scholars, contributing to Updike scholarship while demonstrating his resonance across the Atlantic.






From the publication in 1958 of his first book,
The Carpentered Hen and Other Tame Creatures, the American writer John Updike attracted an international readership. His books have been translated into twenty-three languages. He had a strong following in the United Kingdom, where his books were routinely reviewed in all the leading national newspapers. In Germany, France, Italy, and other countries too, his books were discussed in major publications.Although Updike died in 2009, interest in his writing remains strong among European scholars. They are active in the John Updike Society and on the
John Updike Review (which began publishing in 2011). During the past fourdecades, several Europeans have influenced the study of Updike worldwide. No recent volume, however, collects diverse European views on his oeuvre. The current book fills that void, presenting essays that perceive Updike’s renditions of America through the eyes of scholar-readers from both Western and Eastern Europe.


Contributors: Kasia Boddy, Teresa Botelho, Biljana Dojcinovic, Brian Duffy, Karin Ikas, Ulla Kriebernegg, Sylvie Mathé, Judie Newman, Sue Norton, Andrew Tate, Aristi Trendel, Eva-Sabine Zehelein.


Laurence W. Mazzeno is President Emeritus of Alvernia University. Sue Norton is a Lecturer in English at the Dublin Institute of Technology.

Table of Content

Introduction: Updike as Europeans See Him – Laurence W. Mazzeno and Sue Norton

Under His Skin: Reconstructing the Adolescent Longings of a Would-Be Terrorist – Teresa Botelho

‘At the other end of life’s rainbow’: Rabbit’s Journey from Adolescence to Old Age and Other Transcendental Trajectories – Eva-Sabine Zehelein

Intimations of Mortality: Death’s Shadow in Updike’s Oeuvre – Sylvie Mathé

Back to the Garden: American Longing in John Updike’s
Couples – Sue Norton

Women in John Updike’s
Villages: Back to the Madonna and Whore – Brian Duffy

The Art of Love: Pierre Bourdieu, Cultural Production, and
Seek My Face – Karin Ikas

Psalmist of the Everyday: Late Updike, Aesthetics, and the Language of Praise – Andrew Tate

Guilt, Shame, and Hope in Updike’s Short Fiction: ‘The Music School, ‘ ‘Guilt-Gems, ‘ and ‘Deaths of Distant Friends’ – Aristi Trendel

Signs of Omission?: Socialist Erasure of Religion in John Updike’s Work – Biljana Dojcinovic

‘Hey, Come on, We’re All Americans Here’: The Representation of Muslim-American Identity in John Updike’s
Terrorist – Ulla Kriebernegg

Intertextual Updike:
Gertrude and Claudius – Judie Newman

Rabbit and the News – Kasia Boddy

About the author

LAURENCE W. MAZZENO is President Emeritus of Alvernia University.