The Cambridge Companion to John Updike

Introduction: 'A sort of helplessly 50's guy' StaceyOlster;
Part I. Early Influences and Recurrent Concerns:
　1. Updike, middles, and the spell of 'subjective geography' D.Quentin Miller;
　2. 'Nakedness' or realism in Updike's early short storiesKristiaan Versluys;
　3. Updike, religion, and the novel of moral debate MarshallBoswell;
Part II. Controversy and Difference:
　4. Updike, women, and mythologized sexuality KathleenVerduin;
　5. Updike, race, and the postcolonial project Jay Prosser;
　6. Updike, ethnicity, and Jewish-American drag SanfordPinsker;
Part III. American Chronicles:
　7. Updike, American history, and historical methodology EdwardVargo;
　8. Updike, Hawthorne, and American literary history JamesPlath;
　9. Updike, film, and American popular culture James A.Schiff;
　10. John Updike, Rabbit Angstrom, and the myth of Americanexceptionalism Donald J. Greiner; Conclusion: U(pdike) &P(ostmodernism) John N. Duvall; Select bibliography.

　　John Updike is one of the most prolific and important Americanauthors of the contemporary period, with an acclaimed body of workthat spans half a century and is inspired by everything fromAmerican exceptionalism to American popular culture. This Companionjoins together a distinguished international team of contributorsto address both the major themes in Updike's writing as well as thesources of controversy that Updike's writing has often provoked. Ittraces the ways in which historical and cultural changes in thesecond half of the twentieth century have shaped not just Updike'sreassessment of America's heritage, but his reassessment of theliterary devices by which that legacy is best portrayed. With achronology and bibliography of Updike's published writings, this isthe only guide students and scholars of Updike will need tounderstand this extraordinary writer.
　　? The only student guide to Updike's work to span his entirecareer ? A collection of specially commissioned essays aimed atstudents as well as readers of Updike ? Includes discussion of thecultural and historical background of Updike's fiction