Poet of the Sound

We are very doleful at the news of John Updike's passing. He is among my most favorite authors (though I have mostly spent time with his early novels and not been so good as to catch up with recent work). Updike was a master (a prolific one) at making Connecticut and its citizens seem vivid, difficult, and passionate, like heroes and heroines of the French and Italian New Wave. What an achievement: to catch an American region and moment in deep and poignant frieze. Much miss, Sir. Love, affection, and appreciation.