Updike

I was just scanning the BBC headlines and I saw that writer John Updike has died. I don't know why, but the news shocked me. He is one of those figures who seems to have been around forever - solid and immortal, like a building.

I haven't read any of his books in ages, but I remember reading him in high school and envying his way with words. Not to mention the, uh, juicy bits.

Here's a quote from a section in the obits called "Updike in his own words," about what sets a writer apart:

"There's a kind of confessional impulse that not every literate, intelligent person has. A crazy belief that you have some exciting news about being alive, and I guess that more than talent is what separates those who do it from those who think they'd like to do it. That your witness to the universe can't be duplicated, that only you can provide it, and that it's worth providing."
Boston Globe, 1990