John Updike / by Robert Detweiler.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

John Updike: out of the ordinary -- The same door: unexpected gifts -- The poorhouse fair: the godless city of God -- Rabbit, run: the quest for a vanished grail -- Pigeon feathers: the design of design -- The centaur: guilt through redemption -- Of the farm: the failed poet and the urban Earth mother -- The music school: strange chords and strained cords -- Couples: Tristan and Don Juan in Tarbox -- Bech: a book: the Protestant as Jew -- Rabbit redux: the space beyond myth -- More fiction of the seventies: the exertions of Eros -- Problems, and, Too far to go: love above the void -- Rabbit is rich, and, Bech is back: sequels and success.

Examines the texture and structure of Updike's writing, with special attention to the metaphoric language, above all the image patterns, that mark his style.