Arts: John Updike - A Life in Letters -- NYTimes.com/Video
*Note: my blog post is only meant to comment on a segment of the interview. (6:35-10:53)*
The aforementioned segment is in relation to the criticism Updike was privy to after the release of his novel “The Witches of Eastwick.” In the excerpt, I did however include in that timeframe, the authors view on the film that was later adapted from his novel. I was happy to see that he felt the same way as I did. They did not capture what he portrayed in the novel. I agree as well, that it seemed that they did not even attempt to either.
However, I disagree with both Updike and his Interviewer. I cannot imagine how Updike could have meant for this novel to be endearing towards women. While I will admit that it is possible that due to my sex, I am biased, I felt that the misogynistic tone and depiction of the women was obvious. With the way that Updike responded it seemed that with his age he may have realized that. Yet, in his appeal and rationalization of the novel, he still sounded misogynistic. For example, in the line from times 9:06- 9:24, Updike says “I love being party to their gossip sessions and even their sessions of malice. Uhh, I enjoyed being malicious through them, uhh not being myself malicious in any way.” In the previous statement since, his three characters are all malicious and only the women in his novel are directly depicted as malicious yet, he himself identifies himself as a male, he portrays himself as sexist. The fact that he clearly separates himself in real life from the women saying that HE in no way is malicious adds to this point. I strongly feel that if a woman had written this novel, the female audience would have been more receptive and even amused towards the characters. Perhaps they might even have admitted to some truth that lies within the characterization of women. Yet, due to his gender and sex, I feel that it was impossible for him to avoid criticism from his female audience and critics. I would also be interested to hear if the critics who claimed the book to be endearing were composed of nearly all males. Updike, did not state the gender of those who actually enjoyed and praised his novel. I am not sure if that was on purpose yet, I feel that it probably was. If not, it definitely was the best action for him to take in order for him to win over the hearts of his female readers.
