Every writer needs an alter-ego, and Henry Bech was Updike’s. The differences are important. Bech was Jewish, Updike Protestant. Bech was saddled with writer’s block, Updike probably didn’t know what that felt like. But in the short stories assembled in this, the first of three Bech story collections (Bech is Back, 1982 and Bech at Bay, 1998 both followed), Updike is at his most playfully post-modern. An introduction from Bech to Updike is presented as fact, a charade that the author would continue through the decade, such as in a 1971 interview published in The New York Times. The series was also not without humor, as seen by the super-Protestant author’s comment in a 1982 interview with TIME that he, “created Henry Bech to show that I was really a Jewish writer also.” It’s actually Updike as his most comedic, a vein he probably tapped into less than he should have.
Updike’s second essay collection contains pieces on Jorge Luis Borges, Vladimir Nabokov, and John Cheever, among others. Updike also wrote a short sketch of rules for book reviewing that still holds up. It goes as follows:
“1. Try to understand what the author wishes to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.
2. Give enough direct quotation — at least one extended passage — of the book’s prose so the review’s reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.
3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy précis.
4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.
5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author’s oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it’s his and not yours?”
The Grammys honored Houston in the awards themselves, which showcased forceful women who had dominated the year in music, and reminded us of her TV influence as American Idol’s diva ideal.
From Nicki Minaj’s Red Riding Hood getup to Katy Perry’s head-to-toe blue ensemble, TIME rounds up some of the best (and worst!) sartorial choices at the annual music awards show.
