John Updike

I've known of John Updike for a long, long time. I remember reading "A & P" in a college class, so that would have been somewhere between 1976 and 1983 (I'm not that slow--I stopped for a hitch in the U.S. Army). So at the outside we're talking about 37 years. And it's probably more than that. But I really liked that story. I felt like it was a worthy successor to Holden Caulfield's story in  The Catcher in the Rye , and that was as high as my praise could be sung back in those days. 

And I am pretty sure that I read at least one of his novels. And maybe a collection of stories. But nothing else had that much of an impact on me, and I never felt the need to consume his oeuvre. 

But those Rabbit novels always called to me. In fact, I started reading Rabbit, Run not all that long ago...but pooped out before I made a dent in it. I'm not sure why. I don't remember disliking it.

Still, I thought, maybe someday.

I was particularly fond of the idea of getting my hands on the Everyman Collected Tetralogy Edition. (If it had come in a box, I probably would have had it on my shelf by now.)

Well, the other day I walked into the library and there on the For Sale shelves were all four Rabbit novels in paperback. Pretty good shape, too. And for 50 (are you kidding me?) cents apiece. So of course I was going to buy them, right? But then I started thinking. I've been trying to get rid of books. So bringing four new(-ish) books into the house wasn't part of the plan. And on top of that, I have my reading laid out for quite some time into the future. And keep in mind that my future isn't exactly a Trans-Siberian Express kind of ride at this point. (This point being 62 1/2 years + heart disease.) So I didn't.

But I kept thinking about them.

Went back to the library the next day. Surely someone had picked them up by now.

Nope.

And neither did I.

Went home and Googled, "What is Updike's best novel?" You want to guess the answer to that one? On multiple websites? One of which said that you should read the Everyman Omnibus edition because Updike writes an Introduction therein which is just killer.

So I went back to the library (books were still there) and pulled the Everyman off of the shelf and sat down and read the introduction.

Oh. Good introduction.

My favorite part came near the end, wherein The Updike said

I mean...that's good shit, right?. Especially that last line.

So I went back and got those books, right?

Well...no. For one thing, in the aforementioned Introduction, Updike talked about how for the Everyman edition he had done a little tightening up on all four of the novels...so clearly the earlier versions are The Definitive Forms of the books. And I can get the Everyman Edition any old time, I'm sure. 

But I still kind of want those paperbacks. Maybe someone will go in and get them so I can stop thinking about it.

We'll see how that goes.