http://douglemoine.com/2009/01/updike/ Poetic pragmatism, neo-transcendentalism, bikes, burritos, basketball. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:01:55 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://douglemoine.com/2009/01/updike/comment-page-1/#comment-4404 Doug LeMoine Wed, 28 Jan 2009 22:36:56 +0000 http://douglemoine.com/?p=483#comment-4404 Thanks, Lynne. I had similar reservations, and I've actually mellowed more than my post probably indicates. But I had a reputation to live up to -- as a provocateur, when it comes to Updike -- so I tried to bridge that divide. It's true, though: The tone of critique has to change when a person can no longer prove you wrong. I think my actual letter to David Remnick was laced with profanity, and, unless my note is pinned to his bulletin board, that aspect of the story has been scrubbed by the sands of time. Thanks, Lynne. I had similar reservations, and I’ve actually mellowed more than my post probably indicates. But I had a reputation to live up to — as a provocateur, when it comes to Updike — so I tried to bridge that divide. It’s true, though: The tone of critique has to change when a person can no longer prove you wrong. I think my actual letter to David Remnick was laced with profanity, and, unless my note is pinned to his bulletin board, that aspect of the story has been scrubbed by the sands of time.

]]> http://douglemoine.com/2009/01/updike/comment-page-1/#comment-4402 lyndaellen Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:22:45 +0000 http://douglemoine.com/?p=483#comment-4402 Well done, Doug. When I saw the news yesterday, I couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't either make me feel like a hypocrite or make me feel like I was speaking ill of the dead. Especially in light of our recent conversation with Alex about the Rabbit books. But I was still sad. Many of the literary lions have fallen in the last several months, and it's true that I read a short story or two of Updike's that I had to grudgingly admit that I liked (none of these, I might point out, did I read in the New Yorker, though I'm sure they originally appeared there). Well done, Doug. When I saw the news yesterday, I couldn’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t either make me feel like a hypocrite or make me feel like I was speaking ill of the dead. Especially in light of our recent conversation with Alex about the Rabbit books. But I was still sad. Many of the literary lions have fallen in the last several months, and it’s true that I read a short story or two of Updike’s that I had to grudgingly admit that I liked (none of these, I might point out, did I read in the New Yorker, though I’m sure they originally appeared there).

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