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News

Updike visits University

Pulitzer Prize winner fields questions before Alley reading

by REBECCA DAOUD and DUSTI RHODES
The Daily Cougar 

Inprint's Brown Reading Series hosted a special lecture and question and answer session by two-time Pulitzer Prize winner John Updike on Monday in The Honors College Lounge. 

Updike's talk touched on the finer points of being a fiction writer.

"One of the duties as a fiction writer is to be interesting, and to make your piece cover one conflict, like a thread throughout the piece of work," Updike said.

Updike said that a writer should make readers who will never know you interested in your writing.

"Obey the rules when it comes to point of view. Don't write from the outside of the character and then jump to the inside -- stick to one," Updike said. "But if you're going to break a rule, do it thoroughly, not just halfway."

Updike was asked what it was like to reread a story he had written 15 or more years ago.

"I do find things to change or improve, but none of them really embarrass me. They are accurate records of who I was and what America was," he said. "It's not about looking back on what you've written, it is to look ahead to writing more."

Updike commented on how subject matter has changed over the years.

"My generation was naive, meaning issues like adultery and religion were shocking to us. These days, these issues would not be very meaningful," he said.

Inprint also brought Updike to Houston for its 2005-06 season of readings held at the Alley Theatre, 520 Texas Ave. Updike chose to read two of his earlier short stories at the Alley.

The first, Updike said, was inspired by America during the Vietnam War.

"This story is a set of instructions about how to love America and leave it at the same time," Updike said.

The second, "Family Meadow," was written in 1965 and reflects Updike's family through the setting of a family reunion.

Inprint's Brown Reading Series works in partnership with the UH Creative Writing program.

"Inprint consults with faculty in the Creative Writing department and members of the Board of Directors and put together a ‘wish list' and work on finding out which (authors) we can get to come to the University," Rich Levy, executive director of Inprint, said. "We were lucky enough to have a personal connection with John Updike and were able to coordinate this talk with him."
 

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