Updike and Hawthorne: Autobiography in American Literature

Introduction: Two Giants of American Literature

John Updike and Nathaniel Hawthorne are two of the most well-known writers to have contributed to the body of American literature. Updike, the more recent of the two, has been considered one of America's most prestigious writers, often honored by collegiate bodies and authoritative figures. Likewise, Nathaniel Hawthorne was recognized and respected in his own time, having come from a background commanding some social standing. Both authors, however, struggled with negative personal circumstances during their lives. Updike, for example, struggled with health problems that plagued him since childhood as well as the pain of marital separation. Hawthorne struggled with an ancestry that embodied a rigid Puritanical belief system and also struggled with his family's poverty, a condition he was never quite able to overcome during his lifetime.

The works of both Updike and Hawthorne tend to carry autobiographical notes, with each author drawing from experiences within his own life. Negativity, feelings of guilt, insecurity, self-doubt, and even the dualistic nature of human beings — the capacity to live both a positive and a negative existence — are examined by both authors in their work. These ideas are explored in greater detail below, with special emphasis on two select stories by each author.

John Updike: Life and Literary Career

John Updike was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, in 1932. He spent the majority of his childhood just outside of Reading in a small town called Shillington, and later moved to Plowville, Pennsylvania (Liukkonen, 2002). As a child, Updike suffered many health problems, including psoriasis and a speech impediment that caused him to stammer (Liukkonen, 2002). He studied English at university, where he also contributed to the campus humor publication, the Harvard Lampoon. He married Mary Pennington, but the couple later divorced, and he remarried in 1977 to Martha Bernhard. In 1955, Updike joined the staff of The New Yorker. He left the magazine two years later to work full time on his writing.

Moving to Ipswich, Massachusetts, Updike took up residence there for seventeen years. His first book was a collection of poetry published in 1958 entitled The Carpentered Hen and Other Tame Creatures. His first novel was The Poorhouse Fair (1959). His works have always been recognized for their vivid imagery and precise detail.

Updike is among the most celebrated American writers. He has been called a "triple threat writer," well known for his short fiction, poetry, and reviews, which appeared in leading publications including The New York Times Book Review (De Bellis, 2000). Updike was honored by a former President of the United States and awarded honorary degrees at various collegiate institutions. His work is consistently distinguished by its depth of detail and clear moral direction.

Updike's 'Separating': Imagery and the Human Condition

In "Separating," Updike uses vivid negative imagery to convey the feelings of inadequacy experienced by the Maples. Updike works to express various aspects of the human condition — misery, inadequacy, but also amusement and moments of lightness — expressing a vision of human experience that aspires to balance (Searles, n.d.). In this story, Updike compares emotion to the weather. In the opening section, he notes how the weather "mocked the Maples' internal misery with solid sunlight" (Updike, 2001: 1652). Other details describe the tensions and wounded feelings spreading through the Maples household. In this particular work, divorce is straining many relationships within and among various members of the family.

Many critics have suggested that Updike wrote "Separating" as a result of his own tensions and emotions arising from the dissolution of his first marriage. The story is most celebrated for the rich imagery and symbolism through which it reveals the way a family falls apart and experiences turmoil in the wake of divorce.

Nathaniel Hawthorne: Life and Literary Career

Nathaniel Hawthorne, also a very well-known American novelist and short story writer, was born in Salem, Massachusetts, on July 4, 1804. Growing up in Salem, Hawthorne is said to have lived a somewhat sheltered and protected life, not particularly conducive to artistic development (Jalic, 2004). Hawthorne attended Bowdoin College and turned to writing shortly after his graduation. One of his first collections of short stories was Twice-Told Tales, published in 1837.

Hawthorne's first novel, Fanshawe, was actually published in 1828. This work was printed anonymously and funded in part by Hawthorne himself. He is most celebrated for his novel The Scarlet Letter, though he also wrote numerous other well-known works, including The House of the Seven Gables and The Marble Faun.

Hawthorne was known among acquaintances as an avoider of company, reaching out to few friends and representing himself honestly to even fewer (Farr, 2004: 1). His family lived in poverty, and many of his efforts were dedicated to what biographers have called "vexed efforts" to alleviate that situation, most often without success (Farr, 2004). According to Wineapple, Hawthorne is a figure who "invites both respect and pity" (Farr, 2004: 1). Wineapple further suggests that Hawthorne may have been haunted by anxiety and self-doubt, all of which made the act of writing genuinely difficult for him.

Hawthorne took a position with the Boston Custom House as a measurer in 1839 because the earnings from his writing were insufficient to support his family. As is the case with many great writers, his fame came more substantially after his death than during his lifetime. Though his work met with critical success, it did not bring him adequate financial reward. Hawthorne's fiction is viewed as pessimistic yet luminous; critics suggest that the author felt both fear and shame regarding his ancestry — he was the grandchild of a Puritan "hanging judge" — and also harbored ambivalence about his own literary gifts (Farr, 2004: 1). Though works such as The Scarlet Letter were successful, they did not earn Hawthorne enough money to lift his family out of their difficult circumstances. Hawthorne died in 1864, after struggling with long bouts of illness and dementia.

Works Cited

De Bellis, Jack. The John Updike Encyclopedia. Greenwood Press, Westport, 2000.

Farr, J. "Haunted Hawthorne." The Wilson Quarterly, Vol. 28, Winter 2004.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Young Goodman Brown." 1835. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Paul Lauter et al. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. Lexington: Heath, 1944. 2129–38.

Jalic, LLC. "Nathaniel Hawthorne." Jalic, LLC. 2004.

Liukkonen, P. "John H. Updike." Books and Writers. 2002.

McCabe, M. "The Consequences of Puritan Depravity and Distrust as Historical Context for Hawthorne's 'Young Goodman Brown.'"

Searles, G. "John Updike." N.d.

Tharpe, J. Nathaniel Hawthorne: Identity and Knowledge. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale, 1967.

Updike, John. "Separating." The Longman Anthology of Short Story Fiction: Stories and Authors in Context. Eds. Dana Gioia and R. S. Gwynn. New York: Longman, 2001. 1652–1660.