Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Updike’s Passing

Mr. John Updike passed away today. Besides being a tremendously talented writer and an interesting person, I ran across this lifetime achievement award of his: “In November 2008 the editors of Literary Review magazine awarded Updike Britain's Bad Sex in Fiction lifetime achievement award, which celebrates ‘crude, tasteless or ridiculous sexual passages in modern literature.’”
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3 comments:

  1. MJClementeJanuary 27, 2009 at 6:01 PM

    Yeah, it's really too bad he didn't win the award. He was just a finalist, and was edged out by someone Johnson. I got this about it: "Johnson won for a passage in her satirical novel "Shire Hell" that describes a woman in the midst of a "mounting, Wagnerian crescendo" wondering whether "the Spodders are, as requested, attending the meeting about slug clearance." Wow... I think that about says it all.

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  2. John42January 28, 2009 at 5:07 PM

    Speaking of Updike and sex...

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  3. SkrignovJanuary 28, 2009 at 5:47 PM

    Wow, I just read the whole review. Definitely worth it. My favorite part is the endnote that references his opening sentence.

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