���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