Updike and Politics

Updike & Politics presents the first collection of essays devoted to the political aspects of Updike’s work and showcases a variety of international perspectives.

Matthew Shipe is senior lecturer and the director of Advanced Writing in the English department at Washington University, Missouri. Scott Dill is lecturer of English at Case Western Reserve University.

Chapter 1: Updike and the American Presidency Chapter 2: "We're None of Us Perfect": Watergate and Adultery in John Updike's A Month of Sundays and Memories of the Ford Administration Chapter 3: Presidential Politics as Sexual Politics: Memories of the Ford Administration Chapter 4: Updike, Obama and the Poetics of Hope Chapter 5: Updike on Demagoguery Chapter 6: 'Love it or leave it': America in red, gray and blue in Rabbit Redux Chapter 7: 'Mail' Chauvinism: John Updike's Postal Fetish and the Unrealizable Vision of American Democracy Chapter 8: The Failure of Moderation in Buchanan Dying and Memories of the Ford Administration Chapter 9: Inside Reagan's 'Placid, Uncluttered Head': Roger's Version and the Rise of Neoliberalism Chapter 10: The Politics of Vulnerability in The Afterlife and Other Stories Chapter 11: John Updike's Terrorist and the Politics of Hygiene Chapter 12: Updike's Middle East: A Neoliberal Approach to Conflict Resolution Chapter 13: Updike "Third-Worlds It": Staging The Coup as Political Satire Chapter 14: The Three Mile Island Accident and the Man from Toyota: American Cold War Cultural Politics,Ressentiment, and the Uncanny Double in Rabbit Is Rich and Rabbit at Rest Chapter 15: John Updike and the World: The Politics of Identity in Brazil