An Evening With Updike

What a magical evening last night turned out to be.  Driving to Seattle in a horrific rainstorm made us question the wisdom of our decision to go hear John Updike at Seattle Arts & Lectures.  Fortunately, we didn't turn back.  It was a marvelous evening.  Updike was interviewed by author David Guterson and Seattle Art Museum's Curator of American Art, Patti Junker.  Updike was eloquent, witty and extremely charming.  His eyes twinkled and he often made the audience chuckle with his responses.  Now in his mid-seventies, Updike has penned sixty books in the last half-century and become a literary icon.  His latest book is The Widows of Eastwick, a sequel to his earlier novel, The Witches of Eastwick.  It was Updike's connection with the art world, first as a student and for years as a critic, that brought Patti Junker onstage.  Yesterday's opening of the show Edward Hopper's Women at SAM and the fact that Hopper is one of Updike's favorite painters brought about one of the evening's highlights.  Junker projected three of Hopper's paintings on a large screen and asked Updike to talk about them.  He then read an older poem he had written about two of Hopper's paintings as his inspiration for the poem were shown on the screen.  As patrons of Seattle Arts & Lectures we were also invited to view the Hopper show.  It's magnificent.  As our friend Patti remarked at the end of the evening, "I feel as if I have been at church.  I could listen to Updike speak all night long."

Comments

[Nome]

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