Updike’s Bravery

I experience life in John Updike’s bravery.

Updike’s Christian faith didn’t keep him from making true and profane characters. Actually, his faith probably made him a better observer of people, especially those in the church. I want that sort of bravery with my writing. I’d probably never write some of the stuff he writes because it makes me uncomfortable and blush. But still, I can learn a lot from him.

I love his answer to why he writes about sex so much. He said, “There was a tradition among my peers for frank and open talk, and I’d always been a rather shy, priggish, unexperienced adolescent. So maybe my revenge as a young adult was to put down all the dirty words that I’d always been a little shy about using.” ; )

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From Rabbit is Rich, pp. 191-192

“He keeps talking about the church being the be-riide of Ke-riist. I kept wanting to ask him, Whose little bride are you?”

“Nelson,” Janice said, glancing toward the kitchen, where her mother was making herself Ovaltine.

“I mean, it’s obscene,” Nelson insisted. “What does He do, fuck the church up the ass?”