Memories of the Ford Administration (Penguin Modern Classics) - Softcover

Updike, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141188995 ISBN 13: 9780141188997

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 2007

Synopsis

When a history professor - Alfred Clayton, the hero of John Updike's fifteenth novel - is asked to record his impressions of the Ford Administration, he recalls a turbulent piece of personal history as well: his unfinished book on 19th-century president James Buchanan.

About this title

Review:

"An Engrossingly Clever Novel About Sex And The Presidency." -- Nicholas Von Hoffman
"Quintessential Updike...[A] comic and melancholy reflection on politics and passion." -- The New York Times Book Review

"Compelling...Alf's life and times are light and funny; Buchanan's are dark and serious. Alternating between the two, Mr. Updike entertains and instructs...in gorgeous prose."

-- The Wall Street Journal

"Quintessential Updike . . . [a] comic and melancholy reflection on politics and passion."--"The New York Times Book Review"
"Updike has the ability to evoke the micro-epochs that fascinate us. He can bring to life what seem to those of us who have lived them the vital differences between the decades of our lives."--"Chicago Tribune"
"Compelling . . . Alf's life and times are light and funny; Buchanan's are dark and serious. Alternating between the two, Mr. Updike entertains and instructs . . . in gorgeous prose."--"The Wall Street Journal"

Quintessential Updike . . . [a] comic and melancholy reflection on politics and passion. "The New York Times Book Review"
Updike has the ability to evoke the micro-epochs that fascinate us. He can bring to life what seem to those of us who have lived them the vital differences between the decades of our lives. "Chicago Tribune"
Compelling . . . Alf s life and times are light and funny; Buchanan s are dark and serious. Alternating between the two, Mr. Updike entertains and instructs . . . in gorgeous prose. "The Wall Street Journal""

"Quintessential Updike . . . [a] comic and melancholy reflection on politics and passion."--The New York Times Book Review

"Updike has the ability to evoke the micro-epochs that fascinate us. He can bring to life what seem to those of us who have lived them the vital differences between the decades of our lives."--Chicago Tribune

"Compelling . . . Alf's life and times are light and funny; Buchanan's are dark and serious. Alternating between the two, Mr. Updike entertains and instructs . . . in gorgeous prose."--The Wall Street Journal

About the Author:

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 edition

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0141188995
• ISBN 13: 9780141188997
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400