About an hour ago I found out one of my favorite authors of all time, John Updike, died today. I just wanted to write something about him.
Somewhere around seven years ago I was introduced to Updike's writing in a short story class. It was usually much more interesting than everything else, Kafka probably being the only exception. We had to read a lot of Updike's stuff actually, more than any other author, and his story 'A&P' has been my favorite short story (and looking back, a solid touchstone for my interest in writing in the first place). It's a simple enough story, a kid working at an A&P forms an instant crush on a girl who comes into the store, she is mistreated by (i think) the owner of the store, the boy (trying to impress her) quits on the spot, and this act goes unnoticed by the girl. My argument as to the moral of the story, which was something to the effect of, 'girls are awful and nothing you do matters to them and they will just ruin your life', was unanimously discredited by kids and professors alike. To be young and (somewhat needlessly) resentful towards girls was my calling back then. The story goes much deeper, which is what i ultimately learned through taking this class and reading Updike's work. Updike taught me about the subtext of writing, more or less though trial and error since almost every initial conclusion I drew from his work was wrong. It's important to let yourself be way off once and a while because you always learn more getting back on track. That is really the main lesson I've taken from John Updike. Anyone who feels the impulse to write has that moment and that piece that helps it all come together, 'A&P' was mine. It's a tremendous loss and I'm going to miss him.
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