Introduction: “A sort of helplessly 50’s guy”

pp 1-12

Part I - Early influences and recurrent concerns

pp 13-14

1 - Updike, middles, and the spell of “subjective geography”

pp 15-28

2 - “Nakedness” or realism in Updike’s early short stories

pp 29-42

3 - Updike, religion, and the novel of moral debate

pp 43-58

Part II - Controversy and difference

pp 59-60

4 - Updike, women, and mythologized sexuality

pp 61-75

5 - Updike, race, and the postcolonial project

pp 76-90

6 - Updike, ethnicity, and Jewish-American drag

pp 91-104

Part III - American chronicles

pp 105-106

7 - Updike, American history, and historical methodology

pp 107-121

8 - Updike, Hawthorne, and American literary history

pp 122-133

9 - Updike, film, and American popular culture

pp 134-148

10 - Updike, Rabbit, and the myth of American exceptionalism

pp 149-161

Conclusion: U(pdike) & P(ostmodernism)

pp 162-177

Select bibliography

pp 178-185

Index

pp 186-193