Toward the End of Time (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: John Updike
- First Published: 1997
- Type of Work: Novel
- Time of Work: 2020
- Setting: Suburban Massachusetts, north of Boston
- Principal Characters: Ben Turnbull, Gloria, Deirdre
- Genres: Long fiction, Science fiction
- Subjects: Sex or sexuality, Immortality, Twenty-first century, Cancer, Suburban life, Life, philosophy of, Wealth, Nuclear warfare or weapons, Deer, Impotence
- Locales: Massachusetts
John Updike began his career as one of America’s most skilled and most revered novelists forty years ago with the publication of The Poorhouse Fair (1959), a parable about social disintegration revolving around an old man and set twenty years in the future. Now, on the verge of the turn of the millennium, Updike has written another novel with a similar premise. Toward the End of Time is set in the year 2020, after the federal government has disintegrated in the wake of the Sino-American nuclear war. The old man this time is Ben Turnbull, a sixty-six-year-old retired...
[The entire page is 2033 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
See Also
Related Topics
