Born in the same year as Updike, 1932, Harry is, ipso facto, always Updike’s age. Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom is an extraordinary alter ego for Updike. The ordinary nature of the context in which they occur is never lost, however, as the flood of detail continues to bombard the reader. They occur in Updike’s novels and are experienced by his characters. It is true that ordinary life is not devoid of challenges, revelation, and tragic happenings.

The quote from Updike goes on: “… out there was where I belonged, immersed in the ordinary which careful explication would reveal to be extraordinary”. Cartwright quotes Updike speaking about his writing as taking the ordinary and giving it its beautiful due. The Penguin Classic edition of Rabbit at Rest (the novel was first published in 1990) contains two Afterwords, one by Justin Cartwright 4 and one by Updike, himself. John Updike, in contrast, writes in a super-realist style recreating everyday life down to the detail of the last piece of furniture the last song on “hits and memories” radio stations and the last detail of the Toyota small car released in 1988. Reading a John Irving is like moving through a kaleidoscope of brightly coloured dreams. John Irving takes big themes (abortion, religion, suicide, class, the aftermath of wars) and explores them through extraordinary characters and almost lyrical language. John Irving and John Updike are very different novelists. There was a time in my life when my reading would consist of an Updike novel, followed by a John Irving novel 3, followed by an Updike novel, ad infinitum or, at least, for most people, ad nauseam. Having previously read, at various times, the first three Rabbit books, I suggested Rabbit at Rest, the fourth in the teratology and my colleagues agreed.

One of our members, another John, suggested that we should read an Updike. John Updike died, earlier this year, just short of his 77 th birthday. John’s request to join any of the three was met with a succession of vetos on the ground that he was not a woman. My friend, John’s wife, Margaret, is a member of three book groups.

John updike rabbit redux