tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11358986.post114398518604001533..comments2023-09-24T11:26:12.495-05:00Comments on Stories to Go: "On the Sidewalk" by John UpdikeScoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16505555480300076110noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11358986.post-1146748117473665552006-05-04T08:08:00.000-05:002006-05-04T08:08:00.000-05:00Let's agree.. to agree! That is, we don't think o...Let's agree.. to agree! That is, we don't think our separate opinions are mutually exclusive. We do believe Mr. Updike can be transcendent (about all classes, actually), and this story is probably a somewhat rare example of his being as flippant as we are. (Remember--he was still quite young when he wrote this.) It would indeed be difficult to be able to write about modern life without acknowledging at least some of the universal problems of modern life, and as you might see in these web pages, not too often attempted or done.<BR/><BR/>We hope you'll tune in now and then and meet other authors, perhaps a few less well-known, who are both transcendent and flippant in turn.Scoothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16505555480300076110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11358986.post-1146494522836490432006-05-01T09:42:00.000-05:002006-05-01T09:42:00.000-05:00I am not sure that characterizing him as dwelling ...I am not sure that characterizing him as dwelling on middle class angst is correct. I find a sort of transcendent feel to a lot of his stories, a sense of renewel and joy against the backdrop of every life and its travails. He seldom seems flip to me--what is interesting, in that he avoids the cliches associated with the usual description of bourgeois existence, and treats it with sensitivity. And how can you write about modern life, anyway, without acknowledging divorce, affairs, and so forth.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com