| John Updike's Human Comedy: Comic Morality in the Centaur and the Rabbit Novels Contributor(s): Hakutani, Yoshinobu (Editor), Keener, Brian (Author) |
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ISBN: 0820470902 ISBN-13: 9780820470900 Publisher: Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publi OUR PRICE: $96.28 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: May 2005 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Literary Criticism | American - General |
| Dewey: 813.54 |
| LCCN: 2004006665 |
| Series: Modern American Literature: New Approaches |
| Physical Information: 150 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: The comedy in John Updike's most important works - The Centaur; Rabbit, Run; Rabbit Redux; Rabbit Is Rich; Rabbit at Rest; and Rabbit Remembered - defines a comic world and its morality. Although critics have failed to recognize the extent and the importance of Updike's comedy, his serious fiction does contain a good deal of farce, burlesque, and irony that, far from being peripheral or mere comic relief, depicts the absurd and contradictory nature of life. Within such a world, set in the everyday Pennsylvania of the second half of the twentieth century, human beings mature, or gain Kierkegaard's ethical sphere, by fulfilling their societal and generational responsibilities. George Caldwell of The Centaur is Updike's paragon, while Rabbit Angstrom embodies the comic hero who, through trial and error, finally matures. Overall, through an analysis of Updike's comedy, this book reveals a dimension of his fiction that is essential to understanding his work. |