Updike Remembers Life of Writing

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winning writer John H. Updike '54 spoke to a packed crowd at the Lowell House library Friday afternoon.

Updike spoke after receiving this year's Harvard Arts Medal, which was part of the sixth-annual Arts First festival. The talk also featured actor John A. Lithgow '67.

Updike spoke to an audience of about 130 students, some 30 of whom were standing for lack of space.

"The written word is my way of sharing," Updike said of his decision to become a writer after graduating summa cum laude in English. "With the written word, I give, I give," he said.

Updike said he was partly influenced to become a writer by popular opinion.

"In the 40's there was still the idea of being a professional writer. Writers like Hemingway and Faulkner were people you were supposed to admire," he said.

Born in Shillington, Penn., in 1932, Updike first submitted work to national magazines while in high school. At Harvard he was the president of the Lampoon, a semi-secret Bow Street social organization that used to occasionally publish a so-called humor magazine.

Updike spoke very fondly of his days as a student in Hollis Hall and Lowell House.

"The Lampoon was nearby, and you usually went to Lamont [to study]. Widener was for more advanced things," he said.

"In my day each of the Houses had its own character. Lowell had an intellectual character," he said.

Lithgow, himself an accomplished artist, led the interview until Updike asked if the students had any questions.

Students asked questions ranging from why one should write when everybody else is becoming an investment banker, to what effects new technology has had no his writing process. To each question Updike responded with his trademark dry humor and forthrightness.

"You write because you've felt satisfied by other people's books, and you have the conviction that you have something to say" he said. "After that you continue to write because it becomes your identity."

"I acquired my first word processor in the '80s," Updike said. "It is a useful tool...but sometimes the only way to write is by hand."

Updike continued, "The humming screen can be a presence, and you need to be absolutely alone when you write."

When asked why he came to hear Updike speak, Jared S. White '00 said, "As someone who wants to be writing, I am a fan of his writing and his deftness."

Updike has published 18 novels, as well as poetry, short essays and children's books. He has won four National Book Awards, the MacDowell Medal and the National Medal of Arts. In 1992, he received an Honorary Doctor of Letters from Harvard.

Updike's latest novel, Toward the End of Time, was published in 1997. He lives in Beverly Farms, Mass.