John Updike: Views on Sex and Religion Reflected in his Writings

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John Updike is unarguably one of the greatest writers in American history. His writing was famous for capturing the pain, joy, energy, and despair of being an ordinary person. Updike was intentional in writing about ordinary people as his focus was to write to middle-class American suburbia. His various works are artistically saturated with wit, intelligence, theological ideas, and sexual behavior. The website Academy of Achievement explains this thought by writing, “In an autobiographical essay, Updike famously identified sex, art, and religion as "the three great secret things" in human experience.” (AA). So, what made his works standout over other writing with spiritual and sexual overtones? Mr. Updike unapologetically injected the carnal sexual proclivities of his characters while also intermingling Protestant Christian theological paradigms. As a result, his readers were captivated by the proverbial tension of moral and spiritual duplicity.

John Updike was born in Reading, Pennsylvania in 1932. Later in life he would develop an affinity for providing the setting for many of his stories in the areas neighboring Reading (AA). Mr. Updike wrote affectionately about American life with an attitude of respect for its diversity. As mentioned earlier he enjoyed writing about people that were easily understood by middle-class Americans. His patriotism and religion formed a relationship with the common life experience of average Americans. His earliest aspiration was to become a cartoonist and later he desired to be a poet. He wrote many popular short stories however; his most celebrated works are among his novels.

Mr. Updike was a religious man with a Protestant perspective on his Christian faith. He also mad...

... middle of paper ...

... tantalized viewers, a prolific American writer exposed readers to the guilty pleasure of sexual illicit dramas.

Work cited

Academy of Achievement. Washington D.C., 11 August 2009. Web.

18 July 2010

Brooke, Allen. "John Updike, Literary High Priest Of Sex and

Suburbia, Is Dead at 76." Wall Street Journal. 28

Jan. 2009, Eastern edition: National Newspaper Abstracts

(3), ProQuest. Web. 18 Jul. 2010.

Buchanan, Mark. “Rabbit Trails to God”. Christianity Today. 1 July

2003. Web. 18 July 2010

Gopnik, Allen. “John Updike” New York Times. 9 February 2009.

Web. 18 July 2010.

Schopen, Bernard A. "Faith, Morality, and the Novels of John

Updike." Twentieth Century Literature 24.4 (1978):

523-26. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 18 July

2010.

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