John Updike – In Memoriam
Flying home on Jet Blue, a photograph of John Updike flashed across the TV monitor and I put my earphones on quickly and gasped to learn that Updike died today. The Rabbit series is possibly the Great American Novel and it surely is the G A N that every writer aspires to write. He will be sorely missed.
I wrote John Updike, I believe in 1991 but my letter and his letter back are not dated. I wrote to tell him I had finished the last of the Rabbit series and that I had been discussing it with a professor of English Literature and the professor had said he believed Updike might have written the Great American Novel. And I had agreed. I told Mr. Updike I had bought Rabbit Run for 50 cents at a book sale. Imagine!
This is what Updike wrote me back:
Mar 8
Dear Ms. Dangermond-
Thank you for your kind letter; it was very encouraging, as I am about to see all four Rabbit novels put into a single Everyman’s edition. 50 cents a piece! What a steal, if I do say so myself.
Best wishes,
John Updike.