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(1964), Bullet Park (1969), andFalconer (1977) — the last ofwhich was largely autobiographical.John Updike (1932- )John Updike, like Cheever, is alsoregarded as a writer of mannerswith his suburban settings, domesticthemes, reflections of ennuiand wistfulness, and, particularly,his fictional locales on the easternseaboard of the United States, inMassachusetts and Pennsylvania.Updike is best known for his fiveRabbit books, depictions of thelife of a man — Harry “Rabbit”Angstrom — through the ebbs andflows of his existence across fourdecades of American social andpolitical history. Rabbit, Run (1960)is a mirror of the 1950s, withAngstrom an aimless, disaffectedyoung husband. Rabbit Redux(1971) — spotlighting the countercultureof the 1960s — findsAngstrom still without a clear goalor purpose or viable escape routefrom the banal. In Rabbit Is Rich(1981), Harry has become a prosperousbusinessman during the1970s, as the Vietnam era wanes.The final novel, Rabbit at Rest(1990), glimpses Angstrom’s reconciliationwith life, before hisdeath from a heart attack, againstthe backdrop of the 1980s. InUpdike’s 1995 novella RabbitRemembered, his adult childrenrecall Rabbit.Among Updike’s other novels areThe Centaur (1963), Couples(1968), A Month of Sundays (1975),Roger’s Version (1986), and S.JOHN UPDIKEPhoto © Nancy Crampton(l988). Updike creates an alter ego— a writer whose fame ironicallythreatens to silence him — inanother series of novels: Bech: ABook (l970), Bech Is Back (1982),and Bech at Bay (1998).Updike possesses the mostbrilliant style of any writertoday, and his short storiesoffer scintillating examples ofits range and inventiveness.Collections include The Same Door(1959), The Music School (1966),Museums and Women (1972), TooFar To Go (1979), and Problems(1979). He has also written severalvolumes of poetry and essays.J.D. Salinger (1919- )A harbinger of things to come inthe 1960s, J.D. Salinger has portrayedattempts to drop out of society.Born in New York City, heachieved huge literary success withthe publication of his novel TheCatcher in the Rye (1951), centeredon a sensitive 16-year-old, HoldenCaulfield, who flees his elite boardingschool for the outside world ofadulthood, only to become disillusionedby its materialism andphoniness.When asked what he would like tobe, Caulfield answers “the catcherin the rye,” misquoting a poem byRobert Burns. In his vision, he is amodern version of a white knight,the sole preserver of innocence. Heimagines a big field of rye so tallthat a group of young children cannotsee where they are running asthey play their games. He is the onlybig person there. “I’m standing on106