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John Updike (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)

Biography

John Updike was born on March 18, 1932, in Shillington, Pennsylvania, the only child of Wesley and Linda Grace (Hoyer) Updike. His early years were spent in the Shillington home of his mother's parents, John and Katherine Hoyer. When John was thirteen, they moved to the old family farm in Plowville, ten miles outside Shillington, where John's mother had been born. These were lean years for the family, which was supported only by his father's meager salary as a mathematics teacher at Shillington High School. Though poor, his parents were well educated and had high...

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