Altho the Rabbit books are my favorite Updike writing, I thought I would listen to some earlier work, and I found that the criticisms of Updike, that he is a misogynist, that he is parochial, were supported by these pieces on audio.
Well who am I to criticize Updike? One stands in awe of his descriptive powers, and when one learns that he too loved Nabokov, Salinger, et. al., well I cannot fault those idols. Still, as in "Ace in the Hole," one finds a creeping condescension to the lesser intellects of his "working class" characters. This kind of attitude of superiority, I do not recall in Salinger. And a larger empathy for the human condition exists in such writers as Tennessee Williams, Steinbeck, and even F.Scott. And so widely considered the greatest living novelist, Updike has shortcomings, not the least of which is his tendency toward maudlin moralism, as in "The Lifeguard."
The work of Updike that I admire include his Rabbit series, The Centaur, and some early short stories. His journeys into religious themes again underline his tendency toward provincialism.
In listening to his work on audio, I was struck with the sensitivity of his voice. Reading his own story "The Persistence of Desire", he sounds like Monty Clift; he is a great reader of his own work, and one wonders if a childhood desire to be an actor is at last being realized.
Make no mistake, please, the descriptive aurias in "Rabbit is Rich" and "Rabbit at Rest" as well as some in "The Centaur" are awesome. (Did Ray Bradbury's "Dandelion Wine" predate Updike's "The Centaur"? )
For all my disappointment in reading Updike's incidental literature, and for all my quarrels with his sometimes narrow sightedness, he remains triumphant with his "Rabbit at Rest," as a tragic picture of capitalism in its twilight, and yet the beauty still to be noticed in a "SkyBar" peanut brittle bought at the airport concession stand.
No comments:
Post a Comment