John Updike, Rabbit, Run

Christopher Love (University of Alabama)

Ed. by Grace Moore, University of Otago
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1960

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Rabbit, Run

is John Updike’s second published novel and helped to establish the author as one of the major American novelists of the second half of the twentieth century. Centered on the tragicomic life of Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom, the novel achieved such critical and commercial success that it led to Updike’s series of “Rabbit” novels, known collectively as

Rabbit Angstrom

. Updike also added a coda to the series with his novella

Rabbit Remembered

, which is included in his story collection

Licks of Love

(2000). Among Updike’s most enduring works,

RabbitRun

introduced many themes to which the author returned frequently throughout his career: middle-class Protestant America, marriage, adultery, and existential crises. Updike has claimed that his three greatest concerns as a…

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2109 words

Citation: Love, Christopher. "Rabbit, Run". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 August 2024 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=2483, accessed 21 November 2024.]

John Updike, Rabbit, Run

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