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Edition 11: A Crossroad & Destination

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���Those who have not felt the difficulty of living,��� writes Updike in the same Foreword, ���have no need of Barthian theology; but then perhaps they have no ear for music.��� Updike, perhaps more than any other great American author, wrote about the difficulty, not just of faith but of faithfulness to one���s partner. One thinks of St. Paul���s dictum, ���It is better to marry than to burn.��� Clearly, a radical stance, not without its justified critics. Suffice to say, Updike had a great ear for the music of the sentence in his voluminous prose and poetry; also an ear for the music of everyday life. I vaguely remember that shortly after our meeting he spent some time living in Europe and that I jokingly told him some years later, when I saw him for the second and last time, that I hoped he enjoyed his Grand Tour, that it had done wonders for Goethe. As contained and removed as Labor in Vain Road, winding its way towards the large Ipswich salt marshes, was, my brief encounter, there, with the great American writer Updike would resonate for decades: only now, in the fullness of time, fully instructing, fully hearing and understanding the music. I am glad for my then unaware, gentle chiding of the great man without which I would be without this illumination.H Christopher Hyland HYLAND

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