John Updike Has Died - R.I.P.

[blacbird]

I've seen no details yet.

caw

[billythrilly7th]

I'm sure many of you are big fans.

R.I.P.

[billythrilly7th]

my thread is better

mod's please delete this one. thanks

[Williebee]

"Each morning my characters greet me with misty faces willing, though chilled, to muster for another day's progress through the dazzling quicksand the marsh of blank paper."
--John Updike.

RIP

[maestrowork]

It's a very sad day for the literary world.

Rest well, Mr. Updike.

[stormie]

It's here (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090127/ap_en_ot/obit_updike). So sad.

[kuwisdelu]

He'll be missed. :( I have to go dig up my old New Yorkers to reread his recent stories now...

[cray]

RIP, John. (http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/28877018?GT1=43001)

one of my favs.

[Stew21]

sad sad sad.

[cray]

feel free to move merge or delete this thread, mods, i now see a few similar threads in p&ce

[William Haskins]

links to coverage here:

http://authorscoop.com/

[alleycat]

He received an award from the Nashville Public Library a couple of years ago and was very gracious with his time while he was here.

RIP

[Stew21]

three threads so far. :)

[writerterri]

I don't think it's that sad, death. Especially if you live a long life and did what you liked to do.

Death is the door to the next life. Eternally. I believe.


Have fun Mr. Updike! I'd like to meet you someday!

[dpaterso]

three threads so far. :)
No biggie, folks frequent different forums, merging 'em.

-Derek

[mscelina]

I actually teared up when I saw the title of this thread. One of the true greats has left us.

[maestrowork]

I don't think it's that sad, death. Especially if you live a long life and did what you liked to do.

Maybe not sad for him, but definitely sad for us and his family and friends.

[Bubastes]

:(

[Bayou Bill]

This isn't a pleasant thought, but I've often wondered if his being an American, male, WASP (white anglo-saxon protestant) was the real reason he never won the Nobel Prize.

If there's another reason, it escapes me.

Bayou Bill :cool:

[writerterri]

Maybe not sad for him, but definitely sad for us and his family and friends.


So, then you aren't going to celebrate his life with me?


I was just celebrating. He deserves it. Why be sad?


Dork.

[William Haskins]

his life should be and will be celebrated.

but for those of us who were big fans, mourning his loss is natural at the moment.

certainly nothing to be mocked.

[ClaudiaGray]

He died on Rabbit Hole Day. :)

My sympathy to his family and his devoted readership. We'd all be lucky to leave 1/100th of his legacy.

[AncientEagle]

I don't think it's that sad, death. Especially if you live a long life and did what you liked to do.

Death is the door to the next life. Eternally. I believe.


Have fun Mr. Updike! I'd like to meet you someday!

When you reach his age, it won't seem like it's been a long life at all.

[WriteKnight]

Celebration and mourning are two sides to the same coin of emotional currency. True love and respect will accept either.

No small change for John Updike

[writerterri]

When you reach his age, it won't seem like it's been a long life at all.


I think an untimely death is sad. Very sad.


But, you're right. Life goes by fast. And when I'm a ripe old age and I die, I want a party! Celebrate my life!

If I die before I get out of this thread, mourn.


*smooches*

[whistlelock]

Damn It!

[blacbird]

Updike was never my cup of gravy as a literary novelist, but there's no doubt he was an immense talent and figure in American fiction of the last half-century. Aren't many of those left now.

caw

[William Haskins]

printed in yesterday's NYT, from updike's forthcoming poetry collection "endpoint and other poems":

It came to me the other day:
Were I to die, no one would say,
“Oh, what a shame! So young, so full
Of promise — depths unplumbable!”
Instead, a shrug and tearless eyes
Will greet my overdue demise;
The wide response will be, I know,
“I thought he died a while ago.”
For life’s a shabby subterfuge,
And death is real, and dark, and huge.
The shock of it will register
Nowhere but where it will occur.

- John Updike

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/29/opinion/29updike.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

[blacbird]

Way good. I'm copying and keeping that one. Thanks, William.

caw

[William Haskins]

my pleasure.

[cray]

wonderful poem!



Way good. I'm copying and keeping that one. Thanks, William.

caw


yep. good pull, william.
thank you.

[Cranky]

printed in yesterday's NYT, from updike's forthcoming poetry collection "endpoint and other poems":

It came to me the other day:
Were I to die, no one would say,
“Oh, what a shame! So young, so full
Of promise — depths unplumbable!”
Instead, a shrug and tearless eyes
Will greet my overdue demise;
The wide response will be, I know,
“I thought he died a while ago.”
For life’s a shabby subterfuge,
And death is real, and dark, and huge.
The shock of it will register
Nowhere but where it will occur.

- John Updike

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/29/opinion/29updike.html?_r=1&th&emc=th


Wow.

[TerzaRima]

The wide response will be, I know,
“I thought he died a while ago.”

But you know, he was so wrong.

[blacbird]

But you know, he was so wrong.

Wrong, it’s true, he may have been,
But few have dreamed what he has seen.
His passing is of major news
Despite what may have been his views
Of his accomplishments in word
Recorded past his life interred.
We all should wish for such a fate,
To be called fondly, “He , the late . . . “

caw

[Madisonwrites]

John Updike died?!? Sad. :cry:

[Susie]

Great poem. May he R.I.P.

[ricetalks]

Great writer. One of my favorites. Light touch.

[sleepsheep]

So sad. Wonderful American writer.