The first book in his award-winning ” Rabbit” series, John Updike`s ” Rabbit, Run” contains an afterword by the author in ” Penguin Modern Classics”. It`s 1959 & Harry ` Rabbit` Angstrom, one time high school sports superstar, is going nowhere. At twenty-six he is trapped in a second-rate existence
- stuck with a fragile, alcoholic wife, a house full of overflowing ashtrays & discarded glasses, a young son & a futile job. With no way to fix things, he resolves to flee from his family & his home in Pennsylvania, beginning a thous&-mile journey that he hopes will free him from his mediocre life. Because, as he knows only too well, `after you`ve been first-rate at something, no matter what, it kind of takes the kick out of being second-rate`. John Updike (1932-2009) was born in Shillington, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Harvard College in 1954, & spent a year at Oxford, Engl&, at the Ruskin School of Drawing & Fine Art. From 1955 to 1957 he was a member of staff at ” The New Yorker”. Updike was the author of twenty-one novels as well as numerous collections of short stories, poems & criticism, & is one of only three authors to win more than one Pulitzer Prize. His most famous works are the Harry ` Rabbit` Angstrom series, all of which are published in ” Penguin Modern Classics”: ” Rabbit, Run” (1960), ” Rabbit Redux” (1971), ” Rabbit is Rich” (1981) & ” Rabbit at Rest” (1990). If you enjoyed ” Rabbit, Run”, you might like Don De Lillo`s ” Americana”, also available in ” Penguin Modern Classics”. ” It is sexy, in bad taste, violent & basically cynical. & good luck to it”. (Angus Wilson, ” Observer”). ” That special polish, that brilliance; Updike is among the best”. (Malcolm Bradbury). ” Brilliant & poignant... By his compassion, clarity of insight, & crystal-bright rose, [ Updike] makes Rabbit`s sorrow his & our own”. (” Washington Post”).