"Gods do not answer letters": Ryan on Updike

This is fitting for Moddy's "give me something to read" thread. A fascinating look at one of the most celebrated essays of our time, John Updike's "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu," which is a must-read for anyone interested in writing or sports.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/articles/2008/09/28/updike_hit_it_out_of_the_park_too/

Bob Ryan, thank you.

(And if you want to read Updike's original essay, click <a href="http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2008/09/26/hub_fans_bid_kid_adieu/">here</a>.)

 

Thanks for posting, buck. Updike's turn of phrase is sage and beautiful.

 

Has this nation produced a more versatile writer than Updike? I don't think so.

 

This gentleman begs to differ.

 

Some may be interested to know that in May a 50th anniversary update edition of this essay will be published in book form, with more on the story from Updike.

 

A giant among midgets, and one of the five greatest U. S. citizens, ever.

 

Not to steer someone else's thread off course, but most versatile U.S. writers is an interesting debate and could probably warrant a thread of its own. Off the top of my head I can think of David Foster Wallace. Truman Capote would be up there, no? Swinging and missing would be F. Scott Fitzgerald, who washed out miserably trying to be a screen writer.

 

Fiction, though?

 

He's considered a lightweight by some, but when you consider the variety of subjects tackled in Michael Crichton's novels, he'd have to be in the discussion.

 

No fiction, Waylon. It wasn't in the literary soil yet.

Poe did a detective work, dabbled in criticism, classical translations, newspaper and magazine writing and fronted a book about shellfish for drinking money. Who knows what more he would have tried out if not for an early grave.

 

Was Hemingway's newspaper work in any way notable?