The Music School (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: John Updike
- First Published: 1964
- Type of Work: Short story
- Genres: Short fiction
- Subjects: United States or Americans, Parents and children, Sex or sexuality, Twentieth century, Marriage, Religion, Fathers, Adultery, Psychoanalysis or psychoanalysts
“The Music School” is a short story encompassing all the materials of a novel, for what starts out as a simple first-person narration soon becomes a confession of marital infidelity. The story features themes and techniques Updike often uses, in particular complex metaphor and the tension between materiality and spirituality.
The story revolves around three brief incidents. The narrator, who identifies himself only as Alfred Schweigen, a writer, tells readers that the night before he heard a priest describe a change in “his Church's attitude toward the Eucharistic...
[The entire page is 685 words long]
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