John Updike's Short Stories

In the majority of short stories from John Updike we are exposed to the author's chronicle of American life. Innovative and unfashionably conservative, Updike explores psychological processes and sexual candor in his stories but he does so in an accessible manner by focusing on the middle-class and its values. Updike is a master stylist, celebrating sensual life with fluid and precise prose. He combines style with grace by tackling many subjects like sex and religion with sensitivity, without resorting to sensationalism. He often explores the human soul via situations drawn from his own experiences in both his novels and short stories. More attention is usually paid to Updike's novels than his short stories or poetry, yet his takes his short story writing seriously. As Grenier (1981) maintains, "The short stories, prose, play, and poems are not just busywork between novels, they are proof that he is adept at many different genres of literature" (xi).

The exploration of sexuality, psychology, and middle-class values preoccupy many of Updike's short stories. A & P, narrated by an A & P employed named Sammy, is illustrative of these concerns. Sammy is the narrator and from him we receive our perceptions of this surreal supermarket where customers appear as pre-programmed pig-like animals scratching and pulling for their needs. Within this supermarket like society, there is an established power hierarchy, with Mr. Lengel the

r right. A majority of Updike's short stories are thinly disguised autobiography. The series of short stories about the marriage and subsequent divorce of Dick and Joan Maple are a prime example. The stories, written over a span of twenty-one years, parallel Updike's first marriage: like the Maples, Updike married young in the early fifties and had two sons and two daughters during the marriage. Both couples separated after twenty-one years of marriage and were granted one of the first no-fault divorces in Massachusetts (Uphaus, 1980, 127). One of the Maple stories. Marching Through Boston, is a chronicle of the more strident and independent woman. The Maples are now approaching middle age; both have had affairs, considered divorce and even a blood transfusion to liven up their marriage. The story captures Joan's growing interest in the Civil Rights movement. She goes to Alabama to participate in a demonstration. In Dick Maple's response to his wife's growth, we see the conservative side of Updike revealed, "He had never known her like this...Though he had resigned himself, through twelve years of marriage, to a rhythm of apathy and renewal, he distrusted this raw burst of beauty...he heard himself being point out as her

Category: Literature - J