John Updike's Pennsylvania Interviews

James Plath is R. Forrest Colwell Chair and professor of English at Illinois Wesleyan University.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: John Updike and Pennsylvania by James Plath1) “Berks County Game: Find Yourself in John Updike’s Books”: An article for The Sunday Bulletin Magazine by Ellen Sulkis (1965)2) “Updike Visits School”: An article for Reading Times by Michael L. Wentzel (1968)3) “John Updike Reminiscences in ‘Olinger’”: An article for Reading Eagle by Stanley J. Watkins (1968)4) “Rabbit, Run Author Blending of Parents, says Eagle Writer after Meeting Updikes”: An article for Reading Eagle by Carole Reber (1969)5) “Updike, Impish Poet, Admits Playful Verse”:An article for Pittsburgh Press by Ruth Heimbuecher (1969)6) “Updike Talks of His Work, and Film”: An article for Reading Eagle by Elizabeth Greenwood (1970)7) “Buchanan’s Obscurity Inspired Updike Play”: An article for Intelligencer Journal by Charles R. Shaw (1974)8) “Updike: “Final Homage” Paid to His State”: An article for ThePhiladelphia Inquirer by Steve Neal (1974)9) “Updike Discusses Reading”: An article for Reading Eagle by Robert F. Zissa (1977)10) “Is Updike up to His Literary Tricks?”: An article for Reading Eagle by Heather Thomas (1980)11) “John Updike: A Small-Town Boy Who Tried to Make the Most of What He Had”: As heard on The Listener; writtenby David Cheshire (1982) 12) “Updike at Moravian College”: A Public Q&A (1982)13) “ ‘Rabbit’ Evolves”: An article for the The Comenian by Sean Diviny (1982)14) “Distinguished Artist: Another Honor Is Bestowed on Updike”: A Reading Times editorial (1983)15) “Profiles in Excellence: John Updike”: A WPSU-TV Penn State University video segment (1983)16) “Updike Is Home”:An article for The Inquirer Sunday Magazine by William Ecenbarger (1983)17) “For TV, Updike Returns to His Roots in Pennsylvania”: An article for ThePhiladelphia Inquirer byRichard E. Nicholls (1983)18) “A Look into the Work and World of Updike”: An article for The Philadelphia Inquirer byLeonard W. Boasberg (1984)19) “Updike Mixes Sex, God and Technology”: An article for ThePhiladelphia Inquirer byStephan Salisbury (1986)20) “Fresh Air with Terry Gross: John Updike (S.)”: As heard on Fresh Air with Terry Gross (1988)21) “Fresh Air with Terry Gross: John Updike (Self-Consciousness)”: As heard on Fresh Air with Terry Gross (1988)22) “Updike Remembered”: An article for Reading Eagle Times by Pamela Rohland (1989)23) “Updike Pays ‘Debt’ to Library with a Special Group of Books”: An article for Reading Times by Mark Abrams (1989)24) “John Updike, Traveling Wordsmith”: An article for The Philadelphia Inquirer by Daniel Rubin (1989)25) “Updike Reflects on ‘Shillington Thoughts’”: An article for the Reading Eagle by Karen L. Miller (1989)26) “Fresh Air with Terry Gross: John Updike (Rabbit at Rest”): As heard on Fresh Air with Terry Gross (1990)27) “A Writing Mother and Son”: A Public Q&A (1991)28) “Updike Pays Homage to Mom”: An article for Reading Eagle Times by Carl W. Brown, Jr. (1991)29) “Fresh Air with Terry Gross: John Updike (Memories of the Ford Administration)”: As heard on Fresh Air with Terry Gross (1992)30) “Fresh Air with Terry Gross: John Updike (Brazil)”: As heard on Fresh Air with Terry Gross (1994)31) “Defrocking the Muse”: An article for Sunday News by Marty Crisp (1996)32) “The Art of Fiction: A Conversation with John Updike” An article for The Sewanee Review by Sanford Pinsker (1996)33) “Updike Visits Memory Lane; Famed Author Reads for Packed House at F&M”: An article for Intelligencer Journal by Tom Knapp (1996)34) “Fresh Air with Terry Gross: John Updike (In the Beauty of the Lilies)”: As heard on Fresh Air with Terry Gross (1996)35) “Fresh Air with Terry Gross: John Updike (Toward the End of Time)”: As heard on Fresh Air with Terry Gross (1997)36) “Fresh Air with Terry Gross: John Updike (Just Looking)”: As heard on Fresh Air with Terry Gross (1998)37) “Fresh Air with Terry Gross: John Updike (Bech at Bay)”: As heard on Fresh Air with Terry Gross (1998)38) “Prize Winner Tours Boyhood Home”: An article for the Reading Times by Jim Homan (1999)39) “Updike Returns to the Nest”: An article for Reading Eagle by Elizabeth Greenwood (2000)40)“‘Rabbit’” in Retrospect: An article for Reading Eagle by John Mark Eberhart (2004)41) “In the Limelight: Shillington Native, World-Renown Author John Updike”: An article for Berks County Living by Dorothy Lehman Hoerr (2004)42) “An Attendee’s Report on Updike’s Appearance at Montgomery County Community College on November 5”: An article for The Centaurian by Dorothy Lehman Hoerr (2004)43) “The Playful Literary Legend”: An article for The Philadelphia Inquirer by Carlin Romano (2007)44) “Will the Real ‘Rabbit’ Angstrom Please Stand Up?”: An article for Reading Eagle by Bruce Posten (2009)Conclusion: Updike and the Pennsylvania “Essence” by James Plath BibliographyIndexAbout the Author

James Plath is one of the premier authorities on John Updike's work and days. Professor Plath's earlier book, Conversations with John Updike, is the most quoted book in Updike studies. I have no doubt that Native Son: John Updike's Pennsylvania Interviews will be equally invaluable to our understanding of the great and complex writer.