John Updike's human comedy

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."--BOOK JACKET.

subjects: American Humorous stories,  Characters,  Comic, The, in literature,  Ethics,  Ethics in literature,  Harry Angstrom,  Harry Angstrom (Fictitious character),  History and criticism,  Humor,  Middle class men in literature,  Mythology in literature,  Humorous stories, history and criticism,  Angstrom, harry (fictitious character),  Men in literature,  Updike, john, 1932-2009,  Humour,  Personnages,  Morale,  Recits humoristiques americains,  Histoire et critique,  Angstrom, Harry (Personnage fictif),  Hommes de la classe moyenne dans la litterature,  Comique dans la litterature,  Mythologie dans la litterature,  Morale dans la litterature

People: John Updike (1932-2009)