• February 13, 2012
  • JOHN UPDIKE: Many tipsters are wondering why Wonkette hasn’t “covered” the important D.C. political news regarding the death of New York/Massachusetts novelist John Updike. Here you go! [Washington Post]

{ 44 comments }

Tommy Says Soooo January 27, 2009 at 2:51 pm

This will just kill Norman Mailer.

WadISay January 27, 2009 at 2:52 pm

Anybody who could write a page about the beauty and charming character of English girls, and wrap it up with, “And talk of oral sex!” was all right with me.

ph7 January 27, 2009 at 2:54 pm

What’s a novelist? Is that like a poster of a really long blog comment?

V572625694 January 27, 2009 at 2:55 pm

[re=229720]ph7[/re]: Win

loudmouthredhead January 27, 2009 at 2:57 pm

Hehe, you said dike…oop, too soon?

queeraselvis v 2.0 January 27, 2009 at 2:57 pm

I’m sure somehow this is Bush’s fault as well.

KilgoreTrout_XL January 27, 2009 at 2:57 pm

Huh, I thought you were just gonna say ‘Rabbit is dead’. rip.

loudmouthredhead January 27, 2009 at 2:57 pm

[re=229720]ph7[/re]: they post on the sneakernet.

slavojzizek January 27, 2009 at 2:58 pm

Was it David Foster Wallace who once wrote a piece wondering if his Updike firsts would increase in value when the guy died? Seriously.

Theodorick Of York January 27, 2009 at 2:58 pm

[re=229712]Tommy Says Soooo[/re]:
Yeah, and I guess Michael Crichton is just sick about it…

SayItWithWookies January 27, 2009 at 3:00 pm

Rabbit Is Dead.

Tommy Says Soooo January 27, 2009 at 3:02 pm

[re=229732]slavojzizek[/re]: Well that just show that DFW was a mercenary tool then. And not a bright one at that. The firsts would increase if he won the Nobel and really only the early works. He had a good print run later on. DFW shoulda known that, and he should have known that there have been loads o’ collectible authors big in their lifetimes and not after death. Kinda like DFW, come to think of it.

skyinator January 27, 2009 at 3:03 pm

I always got him confused with Upton Sinclair. My bad.

Terry January 27, 2009 at 3:06 pm

[re=229733]Theodorick Of York[/re]:

I have a theory that Michael Crichton left this moral coil specifically to avoid learning what a load of horse hockey State of Fear really is.

Sussemilch January 27, 2009 at 3:07 pm

Karl Rove got suppe…subpee…spub.. John Conyers angry.

Terry January 27, 2009 at 3:09 pm

[re=229744]skyinator[/re]:

Upton Sinclair is buried in Rock Creek Cemetary, the one with an actual DC connection.

masterdebater January 27, 2009 at 3:09 pm

His real name was Updike? You’re making that up!

Come here a minute January 27, 2009 at 3:09 pm

[re=229744]skyinator[/re]: I always got Upton Sinclair confused with Sinclair Lewis, so, yeah, your bad.

Sproutz January 27, 2009 at 3:10 pm

But Updike’s character, Van Horne, in The Witches of Eastwick. That makes it important DC news. Nowait, that would be AD/DC news.

OK, I think I sprained something reaching for that pun.

Sproutz January 27, 2009 at 3:13 pm

I meant that Van Horne is bisexual. My sentence also collapsed in the reach. Oops.

Tommy Says Soooo January 27, 2009 at 3:15 pm

[re=229733]Theodorick Of York[/re]: Hehehe, and Andrew Sulllivan just puked…um, no, forget I said that. And STOP demanding Sully’s medical records. He has a right to privacy (the English kind that sounds like privy).

wheelie January 27, 2009 at 3:16 pm

[re=229759]Come here a minute[/re]: Ditto. Although you can complete the circle by confusing the author of Babbitt with the writer of Rabbit.

Canmon (the Inadequate) January 27, 2009 at 3:19 pm

[re=229737]SayItWithWookies[/re]: Lit Fans Bid Up Adieu

loudmouthredhead January 27, 2009 at 3:19 pm

[re=229758]masterdebater[/re]: Silly, that was his nom de ghey. His real name was Downhetero.

DoktorZoom January 27, 2009 at 3:20 pm

Updike’s literary executor has so far been tight-lipped regarding plans for the disposition of the author’s phallus.

gambypants January 27, 2009 at 3:23 pm

oh noes! what will the new yorker do now in their fiction section? more Sedaris?

http://www.charlietueats.com

skyinator January 27, 2009 at 3:23 pm

[re=229759]Come here a minute[/re]: [re=229769]wheelie[/re]: or, Sinclair Lewis = Sherry Lewis = Lambchop = Rabbit = VW = George W. = everything is and always will be, his fault. (My mind was a terrible thing to waste). My apologies.

Mr Blifil January 27, 2009 at 3:24 pm

Wonderful. Now I’m suffering from depression.

Mr Blifil January 27, 2009 at 3:27 pm

[re=229776]DoktorZoom[/re]: Sent to the Bush library?

Heh. Sorry.

SayItWithWookies January 27, 2009 at 3:27 pm

On the happier side, Henry the Tuatara’s eggs have finally hatched. I would link to the post, but believe it or not, Wonkette doesn’t have a single “tuatara” tag. I swear SKS had a post about him, though.

masterdebater January 27, 2009 at 3:29 pm

[re=229773]loudmouthredhead[/re]:
That make’s much more sense. My wife once tried to tell me there was an author, that wasn’t a porn writer, named Shakespeare. Right, like I believed her.

valet_of_the_dolls January 27, 2009 at 3:30 pm

[re=229732]slavojzizek[/re]: [re=229739]Tommy Says Soooo[/re]: No, that was noted fabulist Augusten Burroughs.

Perot le fou January 27, 2009 at 3:41 pm

I thought this was John Irving. Luckily I know enough about Irvine Welsh that when Irving does die, the cycle of confusion will end for me.

whiteasasheet January 27, 2009 at 3:42 pm

Yay, I just moved up a notch on the waitlist at Myopia!

Lionel Hutz Esq. January 27, 2009 at 3:58 pm

Somehow, I’m pretty sure, this is W’s fault.

Lionel Hutz Esq. January 27, 2009 at 4:00 pm

[re=229728]loudmouthredhead[/re]: Updike. Hehehehehe.

Cape Clod January 27, 2009 at 4:04 pm

[re=229737]SayItWithWookies[/re]: No, Rabbit has to be followed by another ‘R’ word to be a true Updike title. Maybe if the bury him, dig him up, and then bury him again, we can use ‘Rabbit is Re-interred’.

valet_of_the_dolls January 27, 2009 at 4:19 pm

[re=229833]Cape Clod[/re]: Rabbit ReAnimated, and then Bruce Campbell can be in it.

Toomush Infermashun January 27, 2009 at 4:24 pm

[re=229833]Cape Clod[/re]: But dig soon, while Rabbitt is still Redolent…

Cape Clod January 27, 2009 at 4:47 pm

Sorry, ‘Rabbitt is Rotting.’

Hound January 27, 2009 at 5:27 pm

Rabbit Hawk?

honkeyman January 27, 2009 at 5:29 pm

I for one will be dancing on his grave. Plain vanilla suburban glorifying plain vanilla suburban living. Yecch. Only slightly amusing thing he ever did was the Bech series — had to write about Jews to be even remotely interesting.

Min January 27, 2009 at 5:39 pm

Dead?!? I didn’t even know he was sick!

hobospacejungle January 27, 2009 at 11:31 pm

I tried to read one of his books. The first Rabbit book. Got about fitty pages in & quit. That is the sum total of my John Updike experience. It is sad when a literary giant dies, even if I didn’t rate him, because there will probably be no more literary giants, seeing as how the latest generation of young folk have the attention span of Ted Haggard watching straight porn. Even big time serious authors these days don’t get much in the way of sales. They win prizes, but it’s the Crichton kind of crap that sells, or Cornwall, or whatever. Thankfully I have switched almost full time to history, apart from Alan Furst. Historical thrillers set in 1930s Europe cannot be beat, when done well. Goodbye Rabbit guy.

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