John Updike's extensive body of work is the focus of this volume. New essays include a discussion of the social and historical context of Updike's work and a consideration of Updike's recurrent Jewish-American character, the blocked writer Henry Bech, as a vehicle for his creator to treat the relationship between an author and his work and "narratively perform the other." Several republished essays discuss Updike's Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom novels, his "Scarlet Letter Trilogy" and the novels featuring Harry Bech.