How John Updike Died and Got Better

John Updike wrote and published constantly for 40 years. More than 70 titles. Thousands of articles. Mostly for The New Yorker. He sold millions of books and his Rabbit Angstrom quartet is celebrated as a pillar of American literary achievement in the 20th century. His novel Couples in 1968 gave readers a look at suburban sex and adultery so graphic (for its time) that its publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, had Updike edit certain passages while sitting beside a lawyer, “almost touching elbows,” in order to limit what the lawyer referred to as contact. “Alfred,” Updike recounted to The New York Times 40 years later, “had an authentic vision of a southern sheriff showing up on Madison Avenue and taking him away.” Couples was a hit.