The Afterlife: And Other Stories - Hardcover
The twenty-two stories in John Updike’s eleventh collection explore life beyond middle age and find it to have its own wonders, from omniscient golf caddies to prescient sexual rumours, from losing mothers to gaining grandchildren. As death approaches, some of the ageing heroes find that life takes on a translucence and magical fragility, others that travel heightens perceptions and tensions. As is usual in Updike’s fiction, spouses quarrel, lovers part, children are brave and houses have the presence of personalities. His is a world where innocence stubbornly persists, and fresh beginnings almost outnumber losses.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review:
" Quintessential Updike....These tales are elegies for lost youth and receding passions."
-- The New York Times
" If one trait can account for John Updike's staying power. it is the man's exquisite grasp of ordinary miracles....With his small mirages, his puddles left by both the heroic and the damned, Updike can turn the simple, misguided efforts of a man into a signature of song."
-- The Boston Globe
" Marvelously Moving...these tales evoke a certain peace and a definite wonder at what an astonishingly graceful writer Updike is."
-- USA Today
" John Updike has rarely written more affectingly, more from the center of his being....This collection is about the passing of generations, and the way that passing leaves people marooned.... Reviewing a novel of Vladimir Nabokov in 1964, Mr. Updike said, 'He writes prose the only way it should be written -- that is, ecstatically.' That ecstasy is evident on every page of The Afterlife."
-- The New York Times Book Review
" These are first-rate stories, thoughtful and wise."
-- The Cleveland Plain Dealer
"Quintessential Updike....These tales are elegies for lost youth and receding passions."
-- The New York Times
"If one trait can account for John Updike's staying power. it is the man's exquisite grasp of ordinary miracles....With his small mirages, his puddles left by both the heroic and the damned, Updike can turn the simple, misguided efforts of a man into a signature of song."
-- The Boston Globe
"Marvelously Moving...these tales evoke a certain peace and a definite wonder at what an astonishingly graceful writer Updike is."
-- USA Today
"John Updike has rarely written more affectingly, more from the center of his being....This collection is about the passing of generations, and the way that passing leaves people marooned.... Reviewing a novel of Vladimir Nabokov in 1964, Mr. Updike said, 'He writes prose the only way it should be written -- that is, ecstatically.' That ecstasy is evident on every page of The Afterlife."
-- The New Y
"Marvelously moving . . . These tales evoke a certain peace and a definite wonder at what an astonishingly graceful writer Updike is."--USA Today
"Quintessential Updike . . . These tales are elegies for lost youth and receding passions."--Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
"If one trait can account for John Updike's staying power, it is the man's exquisite grasp of ordinary miracles. . . . With his small mirages, his puddles left by both the heroic and the damned, Updike can turn the simple, misguided efforts of a man into a signature of song."--The Boston Globe
About the Author:
-- The New York Times
" If one trait can account for John Updike's staying power. it is the man's exquisite grasp of ordinary miracles....With his small mirages, his puddles left by both the heroic and the damned, Updike can turn the simple, misguided efforts of a man into a signature of song."
-- The Boston Globe
" Marvelously Moving...these tales evoke a certain peace and a definite wonder at what an astonishingly graceful writer Updike is."
-- USA Today
" John Updike has rarely written more affectingly, more from the center of his being....This collection is about the passing of generations, and the way that passing leaves people marooned.... Reviewing a novel of Vladimir Nabokov in 1964, Mr. Updike said, 'He writes prose the only way it should be written -- that is, ecstatically.' That ecstasy is evident on every page of The Afterlife."
-- The New York Times Book Review
" These are first-rate stories, thoughtful and wise."
-- The Cleveland Plain Dealer
"Quintessential Updike....These tales are elegies for lost youth and receding passions."
-- The New York Times
"If one trait can account for John Updike's staying power. it is the man's exquisite grasp of ordinary miracles....With his small mirages, his puddles left by both the heroic and the damned, Updike can turn the simple, misguided efforts of a man into a signature of song."
-- The Boston Globe
"Marvelously Moving...these tales evoke a certain peace and a definite wonder at what an astonishingly graceful writer Updike is."
-- USA Today
"John Updike has rarely written more affectingly, more from the center of his being....This collection is about the passing of generations, and the way that passing leaves people marooned.... Reviewing a novel of Vladimir Nabokov in 1964, Mr. Updike said, 'He writes prose the only way it should be written -- that is, ecstatically.' That ecstasy is evident on every page of The Afterlife."
-- The New Y
"Marvelously moving . . . These tales evoke a certain peace and a definite wonder at what an astonishingly graceful writer Updike is."--USA Today
"Quintessential Updike . . . These tales are elegies for lost youth and receding passions."--Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
"If one trait can account for John Updike's staying power, it is the man's exquisite grasp of ordinary miracles. . . . With his small mirages, his puddles left by both the heroic and the damned, Updike can turn the simple, misguided efforts of a man into a signature of song."--The Boston Globe
John Updike was born in 1932 in Shillington, Pennsylvania. He is the author of over fifty books, including The Poorhouse Fair; the Rabbit series (Rabbit, Run; Rabbit Redux; Rabbit Is Rich; Rabbit At Rest); Marry Me; The Witches of Eastwick, which was made into a major feature film; Memories of the Ford Administration; Brazil; In the Beauty of the Lilies; Toward the End of Time; Gertrude and Claudius; and Seek My Face. He has written a number of collections of short stories, including The Afterlife and Other Stories and Licks of Love, which includes a final Rabbit story, Rabbit Remembered. His essays and criticism first appeared in publications such as the New Yorker and the New York Review of Books, and are now collected into numerous volumes. Collected Poems 1953-1993 brings together almost all of his verse, and a new edition of his Selected Poems is forthcoming from Hamish Hamilton.
His novels, stories, and non-fiction collections have won have won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the PEN/Faulkner Award, the American Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Rosenthal Award and the Howells Medal.
Updike graduated from Harvard College in 1954, and spent a year at Oxford's Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art. From 1955 to 1957 he was a member of staff at the New Yorker, and he lived in Massachusetts from 1957 until his death in January 2009.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherHamish Hamilton
- Publication date1995
- ISBN 10 024113501X
- ISBN 13 9780241135013
- BindingHardcover
- Number of pages336
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The Afterlife: And Other Stories
Published by
Hamish Hamilton
(1995)
ISBN 10: 024113501X
ISBN 13: 9780241135013
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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: slight shelf wear. First UK Edition. First impression of the first UK edition with the full number-string : 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 New in green cloth-covered boards with silver titles to spine. No inscriptions. Pages clean. In a near fine colour illustrated dust jacket that has not been price-clipped, showing publisher's original price of £14.99. All in all an excellent copy. The twenty-two stories in John Updike s eleventh collection explore life beyond middle age and find it to have its own wonders, from omniscient golf caddies to prescient sexual rumours, from losing mothers to gaining grandchildren. As death approaches, some of the ageing heroes find that life takes on a translucence and magical fragility, others that travel heightens perceptions and tensions. As is usual in Updike s fiction, spouses quarrel, lovers part, children are brave and houses have the presence of personalities. His is a world where innocence stubbornly persists, and fresh beginnings almost outnumber losses. We pack our books properly and ship daily from the UK. Seller Inventory # ABE-1630504755990
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