Author and examiner of the "American small town, Protestant middle class," John Updike died yesterday at 76. His 1984 novel The Witches of Eastwick was criticized by many for its misogynistic undertones. Updike was too smart not to know this ahead of time, which is proof that the novel is satirical. Plus it questions masculinity and explores male homosexuality as much as it plays on patriarchal conceptions of women. I think I shall give it another read in memoriam.
Updike passed not too far from here, just north of Boston, in Beverly, Mass.
