Did John Updike—renowned and prolific chronicler of American ennui, often manifested in copious adultery—yearn for everlasting life in his final days?
That's the hypothesis put forward by Alex Beam, Boston Globe columnist and author of "American Crucifixion: The Murder of Joseph Smith and the Fate of the Mormon Church," in his recent column, "On John Updike and Eternity."
"Did this super successful man, superated in sin by his own admission...did he really believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting?" Beam asked.
Beam points to the writer's last poem, "Fine Point"—written in the final weeks of his life as he battled cancer—as a sign he believed in life after life:
The tongue reposes in papyrus pleas,
saying, Surely —magnificent, that “surely” —
goodness and mercy shall follow me all
the days of my life, my life, forever.
"Updike focuses in on this one sentence in the 23rd Psalm: 'surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,'" Beam explains. "Updike, this kind of incredibly fine-tuned literary near-genius, feels this one adverb is the key that slips the lock for him to have eternal life."
"I was simply startled on a number of different levels," he continued.
Beam acknowledges that Updike isn't the most likely candidate for this: he did, after all, write excoriating depictions of men of the cloth in many of his novels, including "Rabbit, Run." But he also points out that faith leaves plenty of room for sinners.
"Sinners have a special place sin the hand of God, which Updike, of course, took great solace in. I believe you and I could take solace in that as well," said Beam.
Alex Beam is a columnist for the Boston Globe and the author of "American Crucifixion: The Murder of Joseph Smith and the Fate of the Mormon Church." For more about his thoughts on Updike and religion, read his column, "On John Updike and Eternity."
