<p>John Updike was raised in rural Pennsylvania, and his fiction has a longstanding association with that state, as well as with coastal New England. His name for much of his career was synonymous with the New Yorker magazine&#8217;s vanguard fiction department, and indeed, Updike, while a prolific novelist, essayist, critic, and poet, is perhaps at his finest when composing short stories. He was the consummate mid-century American craftsman, and a man of letters in the truest sense. His presence on the scene continues to be sorely missed. </p>
