--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: John Updike is always fun. And one of my…" description: "\"John Updike is always fun. And one of my former students, Tom Pynchon. And Harold Bloom, another former student.\" — M. H. Abrams" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/641/m-h-abrams-28509_former_john-updike-is-always-fun-and-one-of-my_2914578.png" --- # John Updike is always fun. And one of my former students… ![“John Updike is always fun. And one of my former students, Tom Pynchon. And Harold Bloom, another former student.” quote by M. H. Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/641/m-h-abrams-28509_former_john-updike-is-always-fun-and-one-of-my_2914578.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/641/m-h-abrams-28509_former_john-updike-is-always-fun-and-one-of-my_2914578.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/641/m-h-abrams-28509_former_john-updike-is-always-fun-and-one-of-my_2914578.png) > “John Updike is always fun. And one of my former students, Tom Pynchon. And Harold Bloom, another former student.” [M. H. Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-h-abrams/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote lists notable literary figures and their connections, highlighting a network of influence and mentorship. **In simple terms:** Names of scholars and their relationships are mentioned. Key Takeaway Recognize the impact of mentorship. Themes literature mentorship influence Mood reflective neutral Type informational observational When to use this quote - university seminars - literary conferences - faculty introductions Key Concepts academic lineage networking Questions to Reflect On - How do mentors shape your intellectual path? - Who has most influenced your work? A Different Perspective The quote lacks a clear central message beyond naming people. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Former students](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/former-students/) [Fun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fun/) [Students](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/students/) ## Related quotes > [A John Updike is a once-in-a-generation phenomenon, if that generation is lucky: so comfortable in so many genres, the same lively, generous intelligence suffusing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-saunders/a-john-updike-is-a-once-in-a-generation-phenomenon-if-that-generation/) [George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-saunders/) > [John Updike: our greatest suburban chic-boutique man of letters. A smug and fatal complacency has stunted his growth beyond hope of surgical repair. Not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/john-updike-our-greatest-suburban-chic-boutique-man-of-letters-a-smug/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [I had read Harold Bloom's 'Where Shall Wisdom Be Found?' Late in his life, having read everything, Bloom asked which books had given him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amor-towles/i-had-read-harold-bloom-s-where-shall-wisdom-be-found-late-in-his/) [Amor Towles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amor-towles/) > [“Whether one believes that the faith he spawned is the world's only true religion or a preposterous fable, Joseph emerges from the fog of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-krakauer/whether-one-believes-that-the-faith-he-spawned-is-the-world-s-only/) [Jon Krakauer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-krakauer/) > [“Love is a crowded theater, for as Harold Bloom remarks, “We can never embrace (sexually or otherwise) a single person, but embrace the whole…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/camille-paglia/love-is-a-crowded-theater-for-as-harold-bloom-remarks-we-can-never/) [Camille Paglia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/camille-paglia/) > [Long before I was a writer, when I was just a haphazard reader and a dreamer of stories, I learnt about an influential book…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-o-hagan/long-before-i-was-a-writer-when-i-was-just-a-haphazard-reader-and-a/) [Andrew O'Hagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-o-hagan/) > [“Harold Bloom weeps for me.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christian-bauman/harold-bloom-weeps-for-me/) [Christian Bauman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christian-bauman/) > [Updike was the first to take the penile sensorium under the wing of elaborate metaphorical prose.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholson-baker/updike-was-the-first-to-take-the-penile-sensorium-under-the-wing-of/) [Nicholson Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholson-baker/) > [Updike's style is an exquisite blend of Melville and Austen: reading him is like cutting through whale blubber with embroidery scissors.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/florence-king/updike-s-style-is-an-exquisite-blend-of-melville-and-austen-reading/) [Florence King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/florence-king/) > [Updike and Bellow and Roth were my three favorite writers when I was young and throughout my life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-patchett/updike-and-bellow-and-roth-were-my-three-favorite-writers-when-i-was/) [Ann Patchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-patchett/) > [Updike worked this way, and I just kinda borrowed it from him. So the memoir will be relief from novel writing for a moment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-moody/updike-worked-this-way-and-i-just-kinda-borrowed-it-from-him-so-the/) [Rick Moody](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-moody/) > [Thinking it over, I can't locate another artist in the Updike family.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/thinking-it-over-i-can-t-locate-another-artist-in-the-updike-family/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) > [“But seriously, what were his parents thinking? Naming their son Richard Updike? Did they want him to get beaten up his entire adolescence?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carolyn-mccray/but-seriously-what-were-his-parents-thinking-naming-their-son-richard/) [Carolyn McCray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carolyn-mccray/) > [“Updike “describes to no purpose.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-begley/updike-describes-to-no-purpose/) [Adam Begley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-begley/) > [“The Christian Roommates” is not one of Updike’s best stories.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-begley/the-christian-roommates-is-not-one-of-updike-s-best-stories/) [Adam Begley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-begley/) ## More by M. H. Abrams > [If you read quickly to get through a poem to what it means, you have missed the body of the poem.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-h-abrams/if-you-read-quickly-to-get-through-a-poem-to-what-it-means-you-have/) [M. H. Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-h-abrams/) > [We are human, and nothing is more interesting to us than humanity. The appeal of literature is that it is so thoroughly a human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-h-abrams/we-are-human-and-nothing-is-more-interesting-to-us-than-humanity-the/) [M. H. Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-h-abrams/) > [Life without literature is a life reduced to penury.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-h-abrams/life-without-literature-is-a-life-reduced-to-penury/) [M. H. Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-h-abrams/) > [We are human, and nothing is more interesting to us than humanity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-h-abrams/we-are-human-and-nothing-is-more-interesting-to-us-than-humanity/) [M. H. Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-h-abrams/) > [It's amazing how, age after age, in country after country, and in all languages, Shakespeare emerges as incomparable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-h-abrams/it-s-amazing-how-age-after-age-in-country-after-country-and-in-all/) [M. H. Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-h-abrams/) > [I think the hardest thing to teach a student is that what he or she puts down on paper is changeable. It's not the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-h-abrams/i-think-the-hardest-thing-to-teach-a-student-is-that-what-he-or-she/) [M. H. Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-h-abrams/) > [The survival of artistic modes in which we recognize ourselves, identify ourselves and place ourselves will survive as long as humanity survives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-h-abrams/the-survival-of-artistic-modes-in-which-we-recognize-ourselves/) [M. H. Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-h-abrams/) > [We worked on solving the problem of voice communications in a noisy military environment. We established military codes that are highly audible and invented…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-h-abrams/we-worked-on-solving-the-problem-of-voice-communications-in-a-noisy/) [M. H. Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-h-abrams/) > [At first, students tend to freeze at the first effort. The breakthrough comes when they realize that they can make it better - can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-h-abrams/at-first-students-tend-to-freeze-at-the-first-effort-the-breakthrough/) [M. H. Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-h-abrams/) > [If you learn one thing from having lived through decades of changing views, it is that all predictions are necessarily false.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-h-abrams/if-you-learn-one-thing-from-having-lived-through-decades-of-changing/) [M. H. Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-h-abrams/) > [If you don't set your writing - teaching - at a level that makes them stretch, they are never going to develop their intellectual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-h-abrams/if-you-don-t-set-your-writing-teaching-at-a-level-that-makes-them/) [M. H. Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-h-abrams/) > [When I was a graduate student, the leading spirits at Harvard were interested in the history of ideas.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-h-abrams/when-i-was-a-graduate-student-the-leading-spirits-at-harvard-were/) [M. H. Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-h-abrams/) > [When something startlingly new comes up, young people, especially, seize it. You can't complain about that. I think its heyday has passed, but it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-h-abrams/when-something-startlingly-new-comes-up-young-people-especially-seize/) [M. H. Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-h-abrams/) > [Hard work makes easy reading or, at least, easier reading.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-h-abrams/hard-work-makes-easy-reading-or-at-least-easier-reading/) [M. H. Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-h-abrams/) > [Life without literature is a life reduced to penury. It expands you in every way. It illuminates what you’re doing. It shows you possibilities…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-h-abrams/life-without-literature-is-a-life-reduced-to-penury-it-expands-you-in/) [M. H. Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-h-abrams/) [Explore all 19 M. H. Abrams quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-h-abrams/) ## More Former quotes > [The time that one gains cannot be accumulated in a storehouse; it is contradictory to want to save up existence, which, the fact is,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/the-time-that-one-gains-cannot-be-accumulated-in-a-storehouse-it-is/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [It is easier to perceive error than to find truth, for the former lies on the surface and is easily seen, while the latter…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/it-is-easier-to-perceive-error-than-to-find-truth-for-the-former-lies/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [In my former life I was in insider, as much as anybody else. 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We emerged into plant life, and into the animal state, and then into being human, and always we have forgotten…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rumi/we-began-as-mineral-we-emerged-into-plant-life-and-into-the-animal/) [Rumi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rumi/) > [The average American expends more time becoming informed about choosing a car than choosing a candidate. But, then, the consequences of the former choice…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-will/the-average-american-expends-more-time-becoming-informed-about/) [George Will](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-will/) > [Accepting the reality of our sinfulness means accepting our authentic self. Judas could not face his shadow; Peter could. The latter befriended the impostor…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brennan-manning/accepting-the-reality-of-our-sinfulness-means-accepting-our-authentic/) [Brennan Manning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brennan-manning/) > [Whether Theresa May had stabbed has stabbed the former Mayor of London in the back and Michael Gove had stabbed him in the front.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nigel-evans/whether-theresa-may-had-stabbed-has-stabbed-the-former-mayor-of/) Nigel Evans > [You are also asked to take an oath, and that's the oath of service. The oath of service is not to secrecy, but to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-snowden/you-are-also-asked-to-take-an-oath-and-that-s-the-oath-of-service-the/) [Edward Snowden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-snowden/) > [You can't write about a friend, you can only write about a former friend.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-theroux/you-can-t-write-about-a-friend-you-can-only-write-about-a-former/) [Paul Theroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-theroux/) > [Do, and have done. The former is far the easiest.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/augustus-william-hare/do-and-have-done-the-former-is-far-the-easiest/) [Augustus William Hare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/augustus-william-hare/) > [Time is a vindictive bandit to steal the beauty of our former selves. 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