Born on March 18, 1932, in Reading, Pennsylvania, John Updike was the only child of a high school science teacher father and a mother who aspired to be a writer. It was his mother who instilled in young John the passion to write and draw. Updike was a huge fan of humorist books and mysteries throughout his youth and he was prone to consuming them in mass quantities. He aspired to become a cartoonist. He excelled in school, becoming co-valedictorian of Shillington High and receiving a scholarship to attend Harvard. At Harvard, he majored in English and wrote and drew for the Lampoon; his beginnings were thus principally in the mode of humor writing.
Before graduating summa cum laude from...
