Items related to The Afterlife and Other Stories
To Carter Billings, the hero of John Updike’s title story, all of England has the glow of an afterlife: “A miraculous lacquer lay upon everything, beading each roadside twig, each reed of thatch in the cottage roofs, each tiny daisy trembling in the grass.” All twenty-two of the stories in this collection—John Updike’s eleventh, and his first in seven years—in various ways partake of this glow, as life beyond middle age is explored and found to have its own particular wonders, from omniscient golf caddies to precinct sexual rumors, from the deaths of mothers and brothers-in-law to the births of grandchildren. As death approaches, life takes on, for some of these aging heroes, a translucence, a magical fragility; vivid memory and casual misconception lend the mundane an antic texture, and the backward view, lengthening, acquires a certain grandeur. Travel, whether to England or Ireland, Italy or the isles of Greece, heightens perceptions and tensions. As is usual in Mr. Updike’s fiction, spouses quarrel, lovers part, children are brave, and houses with their décor have the presence of personalities. His is a world where innocence stubbornly persists, and fresh beginnings almost outnumber losses.
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From the Inside Flap:
"QUINTESSENTIAL UPDIKE...These tales are elegies for lost youth and receding passions."
About the Author:
--The New York Times
"If one trait can account for John Updike's staying power, it is the man's exquisite grasp of ordinary miracles....With his small mirages, his puddles left by both the heroic and the damned, Updike can turn the simple, misguided efforts of a man into a signature of song."
--The Boston Globe
"MARVELOUSLY MOVING...These tales evoke a certain peace and a definite wonder at what an astonishingly graceful writer Updike is."
--USA Today
"John Updike has rarely written more affectingly, more from the center of his being....This collection is about the passing of generations, and the way that passing leaves people marooned....Reviewing a novel of Vladimir Nabokov in 1964, Mr. Updike said, 'He writes prose the only way it should be written--that is, ecstatically.' That ecstasy is evident on every page of THE AFTERLIFE."
--The New York Times Book Review
"These are first-rate stories, thoughtful and wise."
--The Cleveland Plain Dealer
AN ALTERNATE SELECTION OF THE BOOK-OF-THE-MONTH CLUB
John Updike was the author of more than sixty books, eight of them collections of poetry. His novels, including The Centaur, Rabbit Is Rich, and Rabbit at Rest, won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the William Dean Howells Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He died in January 2009.
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- PublisherHamish Hamilton
- Publication date1995
- ISBN 10 024113501X
- ISBN 13 9780241135013
- BindingHardcover
- Number of pages336
- Rating
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The Afterlife: And Other Stories
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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. The Afterlife: And Other Stories This book is in very good condition and will be shipped within 24 hours of ordering. The cover may have some limited signs of wear but the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged. This book has clearly been well maintained and looked after thus far. Money back guarantee if you are not satisfied. See all our books here, order more than 1 book and get discounted shipping. Seller Inventory # 7719-9780241135013
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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. This book is in very good condition and will be shipped within 24 hours of ordering. The cover may have some limited signs of wear but the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged. This book has clearly been well maintained and looked after thus far. Money back guarantee if you are not satisfied. See all our books here, order more than 1 book and get discounted shipping. Seller Inventory # 6545-9780241135013
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Book Description First Edition. Fine cloth copy in a near-fine, very slightly edge-dulled dust wrapper, now mylar-sleeved. Not price-clipped. Remains particularly well-preserved overall; tight, bright, clean and strong. Physical description: 316p. ; 23cm. Subjects: Short stories, American -- 20th century. 1 Kg. Seller Inventory # 291125
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Book Description First Edition. Fine cloth copy in a near-fine, very slightly edge-dulled dust wrapper, now mylar-sleeved. Not price-clipped. Remains particularly well-preserved overall; tight, bright, clean and strong. Physical description: 316p. ; 23cm. Subjects: Short stories, American -- 20th century. 1 Kg. Seller Inventory # 291125
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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First Edition. Book condition: Near Fine with very slight push to spine ends. Jacket: VG/Fine with wrinkles to edges; tiny dent to rear; price intact. U.K. First Edition. A bright copy. Seller Inventory # 000810
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THE AFTERLIFE AND OTHER STORIES (First UK edition - first impression)
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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. First UK Edition. First impression of the first UK edition with the full number-string : 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 including the no. "1" on the printer's page, as called for. ***Near fine in green cloth-covered boards with silver titles to the spine. The boards are clean and unmarked. Extremities of boards just very slightly rubbed. No bumps or creases. Spine tight. Internally also near fine with no inscriptions. No creases or tears. Pages clean. ***In a near fine colour illustrated dustwrapper, which has not been price-clipped, retaining the original publisher's printed price of £14.99. Head of spine of dustwrapper very slightly rubbed and creased. Tiny closed tear to head of spine of dustwrapper. No fading. Dustwrapper bright. ***316 pages plus one-page author's note and one-page list of the author's books at the back of the book. 224mm x 142mm. *** 'The twenty-two stories in this collection - John Updike's eleventh, and his first in seven years - in various ways partake of this glow, as life beyond middle age is explored and found to have its own particular wonders, from omniscient golf caddies to prescient sexual rumours, from the deaths of mothers and brothers-in law to the births of grandchildren. As death approaches, life takes on, for some of these ageing heroes, a translucence, a magical fragility; vivid memory and casual misperception lend the mundane an antic texture, and the backward view, lengthening, acquires a certain grandeur. Travel, whether to England or Ireland, Italy or the isles of Greece, heightens perceptions and tensions.' (Quote taken from the front flap of the dustwrapper) ***First impression of the first UK edition in its original dustwrapper in very nice bright condition. ***For all our books, postage is charged at cost, allowing for packaging: any shipping rates indicated on ABE are an average only: we will reduce the P & P charge where appropriate - please contact us for postal rates for heavier books and sets etc. Seller Inventory # 3477z
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