Ian McEwan

Since reading Atonement during my trip to the UK, I've all of a sudden become fascinated by Ian McEwan. And coincidentally, the New Yorker just recently had a very good and lengthy profile of McEwan. He's at the top of the literary world right now, and I hadn't realized how far back his relative prominence in that world existed. He's been friends with Christopher Hitchens (of political talk show fame) and Martin Amis since the 70's.

He's apparently quite a thinker, interested in science, and does a quite bit of research before writing his books (What good author doesn't?). McEwan also has an interesting family history which includes discovering just a few years ago that he has an older brother born from his mother and father, but when his mother was still married to another man (or was it his father still married to another woman? already mixed up on that).

I see his name quite often now. Maybe he's just high on my radar. He's given some thoughts on John Updike, had his endorsement on the front cover of the Roman Republic history book Rubicon by Tom Holland (another book I picked up during my UK trip), and has been interviewed by Richard Dawkins on being an atheist. Here's McEwan's website, and the Richard Dawkins interview:

The man's all over the place. Err...will he get overexposed??

Boston Public Library

That picture of John Updike two posts ago was taken in the Boston Public Library. The hall that he is in is according to this the Bates Hall. I could be mistaken about exactly which room it is, but I definitely recognize the space. It was in this hall over 20 years ago on one of those tables in the photo's background where I came to appreciate the greatness of the New York Times.

It was one of those unremarkable experiences that somehow never leave your memory. But I guess it involved a discovery for me. I had heard of and read the Times before, but the setting, spreading out the pages of the Times on a nice big wooden table in an architecturally historic room, and perhaps having the free time that day to absorb and fully appreciate the paper made it memorable.

Seeing one my favorite authors in a place for which I have a fond memory makes for a cool photograph.

John Updike interview

A video interview of John Updike from last October by the New York Times.

John Updike dies today at 76

Robert Spencer for the New York Times

Though John Updike lived a decent and a generally expected number of years, it's still a great loss when a giant of literature passes. Usually, before calling someone a giant you let decades or a century pass by since their career or life ended. It seems premature to do so when they're still alive or active in their profession. However, John Updike produced some classic works, particularly the Rabbit books (I read all of them, easily drawn into the writing and LOL quite often), was quite prolific (many essays and short stories, poetry too), and was highly regarded in the world of literature. It was easy to recognize John Updike as a special writer.

I sound like I've closely followed his career, but that wouldn't be true. I'm not a short story, essay, or poetry reader, and I've only read the four Rabbit books (Rabbit Run, Rabbit Redux, Rabbit is Rich, Rabbit at Rest) and In the Beauty of the Lilies. Actually, just checking Wikipedia, there was Rabbit is Remembered novella. Totally missed that. The Rabbit books were crazy, funny, lewd, but immensely readable. Not that they were cheap page turners, but well told stories that were comfortable to read. The Beauty of the Lilies was somewhat of an epic, a novel tracing four generations of a family. I thought it was quite good up until the end which obviously drew (too much I thought) from a certain true event.

I had bought other books of Updike's which for some reason I never read, The Coup and Villages. I might still read Villages since I think it's more contemporary.

A five page (online) New York Times obituary is here. I only got through the first page before wanting to post this. It says he died of cancer. His life was cut short.