Hugging the Shore: Essays and Criticism by John Updike (2)

More than 800 pages of essays and criticism to work with…Indicates there will be many many posts with the same title (save a parenthetical numeral). But I hope the content doesn’t feel the same-Both the content of the book to me, and the content of these essays to you.

The Chaste Planet is certainly not the same as anything else I’ve read. A quick read, it is the sort of science fiction someone familiar with Updike would expect-Primarily, I think, for its exploration of sex from a unique (and, in this case, bizarre) perspective.

In this case, Minerva is a planet located within the gaseous “skull” of the planet Jupiter. There, the dominant life form-Which, in addition to being able to communicate and collaborate with humans in some industrial pursuit, is able to have sex with humans-Is described as looking like:

pearl-gray pickles, with six toothpick-thin limbs stuck in for purposes of locomotion, and a kind of tasseled seventh concentrating the neural functions-but there appeared to be no sexual differentiation among them.

Now let me reiterate: This life form, in addition to being able to communicate and collaborate with humans some industrial pursuit, is able to have sex with humans. Did you catch that?

The Minervans resemble “pearl-gray pickles, with six toothpick-thin limbs stuck in for purposes of locomotion,” and are able to have sex with humans!

“Courtesans” are described-But only in passing. Taken for granted, not explored much.

The real theme of The Chaste Planet is: What humans consider sex to be (and to represent) is different from the Minervans. So for the Minervans to have human-sex with humans is not very significant. If that does not sound very enlightening to you, the story ends with an all-to-quick, and not particularly compelling, revelation of what exactly the Minervans do consider to be analogous to human sex.

~~~

Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Masters is a fun exposition of some of Updike’s impressions of the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia-Very “Updikeian.” (Or, can i say “Dikey”?).

In any case, maybe I should elaborate: What exactly do I mean by either of those terms?

Well, here’s an example of how Updike talks about the crowd:

When, on the last two days, the television equipment arrives, the crowd itself is watched. Dutifully, it takes its part as a mammoth unpaid extra in a national television spectacular. As part of it, patting out courteous applause at a good shot or groaning in chorus at a missed putt, one felt, slightly canned.

“Canned.” Updike has a way of conveying a vivid image, with many or few words, then reiterating with only one word, or a phrase. That is not the entirety of what it means to be “Updikeian,” just an example.

I found 13 Ways amusing, but I think it made a special impression because I am amid planning a vacation to Scotland with my father (the birthplace of golf, if you don’t count the play of a similar game by the Chinese). I’m not very interested in golf, but my father plays, watches the tournaments. It occurred to me just yesterday, as I trolled the internet for interesting tours, spending time at a course like St. Andrews may be of some real interest to him.

How serendipitous, I find myself reading something (marginally, I am aware) on the topic.

Hugging the Shore: Essays and Criticism by John Updike

Several years ago I read every single book John Updike wrote. I fell in love with Memories of the Ford Administration and, the way i remember it, Updike was all I read for the next couple years.

I picked up the book entirely by chance. I was visiting my sister in Iowa City (where she was in school)-A few friends friends came along: Lauren, Mary, Marlese, Carl? Seems like a pretty packed car, but that’s the way I remember it-Or, maybe Mary didn’t come along??

I don’t remember much from that trip-Just that I picked up Memories of the Ford Administration from a used book shop, and that my sister was horrible.

In any case, Memories of the Ford Administration cost me maybe $.99-I remember picking it from the “bargain” shelf at the front of the store. I’m not sure why I picked it up-I assume it was the book’s spine, title, in some measure.

In any case, here I am, so many years later, reading this anthology of Updike’s “essays and criticisms.” I am hoping this format will work well for me-I find that I do not have the interest in fiction that I used to, nor the attention span for many hundreds of pages on just one topic.

That said, don’t short essays and criticism from a favorite novelist sound just right for me?

I’m less than 50 pages in but already recognize the empathetic prose I first recognized in Memories of the Ford Administration.

Experience is so vicarious these days, only reminiscence makes it real.

Pretty, no?

But in an odd way i realized I wish he would have said something just a little bit different-Something like “Experience is so impermanent these days, only reminiscence makes it real.”

I think about, for instance, the times I have seen Dream Theater over the years (one of my favorite rock bands, dating back to high school)-Always so exciting for me-And realize: I can’t remember definitively which songs I have heard them play. Am I conflating performances I have seen live with recorded performances?

Or, I think: If, I didn’t have pictures of me standing with my friends Matt and Luke with the band, how insubstantial would those experiences be? If I didn’t have “evidence,” which provide me with particular details that seem to substantiate the experiences: the length of my hair at the time, the glasses or hat I wore, etc.

How can I “make more” of the April 30th show I’m anticipating? (“Make more” as in “make the most of.”)

Do I really need evidence?