Thesis Statement: John Updike's writing style and versatility have made him one of the movement's most accomplished writers postmodernist. John Updike was born March 18, 1932. in Reading, Pennsylvania (Academy of Achievement). Updike grew up with psoriasis and a stuttering problem, which led him to feel isolated and alone during his childhood (The Independent). He used drawing as an outlet, which sparked his interest in cartooning (TIME) and his dream of becoming a cartoonist for the New Yorker (Encyclopedia for World Biography). Updike excelled in high school, which led him to attend Harvard University, where he wrote and drew cartoons for its humor magazine, Harvard Lampoon (Academy of Achievement). After graduating from Harvard, he attended the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art in Oxford for a year, then returned to the United States and fulfilled his dream of working for the New Yorker. However, after writing "Talk of the Town" columns for two years, Updike gave up his dream job and moved to rural Massachusetts in order to write his own stories (Encyclopedia for World Biography). For the rest of his life, Updike produced a body of work almost every year (TIME), which included novels, short stories, poems, children's books, essays, and literary criticism (The Independent). Updike died of lung cancer at the age of 76 on January 27, 2009 (Academy of Achievement). Updike was most famous for his “Rabbit” series, which included five novels about Rabbit Angstrom, a middle-class man who embodied a spiritual and cultural exemplar. problems of its generation (TIME). Two of the novels, Rabbit is Rich (1981) and Rabbit at Rest (1991), were both awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, making Updike the third American to win two Pulitzer Prizes...... middle paper.... ..Quin. “Updike at rest.” Spectator.org. The American Spectator, January 29, 2009. Web. May 19, 2010. “John Updike.” Realization.org. Success Academy. August 11, 2009. the web. May 19, 2010. “John Updike, literary heavyweight. » Time.com. TIME, January 27, 2009. Web. May 19, 2010. “John Updike.” Notablebiographies.com. Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2010. Web. May 19, 2010. “John Updike: writer who recounts the poetry of daily life in post-war Central America.” » Independent.co.uk. The Independent, January 29, 2009. Web. May 19, 2010. “The American Novel: Postmodernism.” PBS.org. American Masters, March 2007. Web. May 19, 2010. Updike, John. "Son." Elements of Literature: Fifth Course on the Essential Elements of American Literature. Ed. Applebaum, Deborah, Kylene Beers, Leila Christenbury, Carol Jago, Sara Kajdar, Linda Rief. Austin, Texas: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2009. 1188. Print.