John Updike (1932–2009) is a famous American writer, art historian, literary critic and critic. Over forty years of writing, John Updike has gained enormous popularity in the United States and around the world. His name is firmly established in the gallery of titans of American literature - such as Steinbeck, Faulkner, Hemingway. The main theme in the writer's works was “the American small town, with middle-class Protestants living in it.” Updike received wide recognition for his skill, unique style of presentation and productivity in his work. On average, he wrote one book a year. The Pulitzer Prize winner imbued his fictional characters with keen perceptions, causing them to “often experience personal turmoil and respond to crises related to religion, family conflicts and adultery." Updike's most famous work is his "Rabbit Novels" series. This is the legendary tetralogy about Harry Engstrom, nicknamed Rabbit, a character to whom the great writer returned again and again. The image of this man embodies the very essence of “one-story America” - with the internal breakdown of the “golden fifties”, the sexual and psychological rebellion of the “furious sixties”, the cynical thirst for profit and pleasure of the “selfish seventies” and the rethinking of the past of the “conservative eighties”. This is the Greatest Intellectual Saga American literature of the second half of the 20th century! “The Witches of Eastwick” is perhaps Updike’s most fascinating novel, which gained worldwide fame thanks to the film by George Miller, in which the inimitable Jack Nicholson played the main role, and the three witches were played by Cher, Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer. Three witches live in the small American town of Eastwick in the late sixties. They know how to cast magic and attend sabbaths, and their personal lives are going very badly: troubles at work, discord with children, disappointments in love. But everything changes with the appearance of an irresistible mysterious man who causes an incredible commotion in the city. He is rich, well versed in art and, most importantly, knows what a woman needs. Usually astute witches allow themselves to be fooled, not even suspecting the true nature of the many-faced Darryl van Horn... “The Widows of Eastwick” is the triumphant return of the devilish trinity of witches from the city of Eastwick! Continuation of the famous story, written by Updike twenty-four years later after “The Witches of Eastwick”, it became the last major work of the American classic. “Tales of the Maples” is a tragicomic family saga about the life of Richard and Joan Maples. This edition includes a cycle of all the stories that Updike wrote - no more, no less - for several decades, returning again and again to his favorite characters. Happy and difficult times. Children. Treason. Alienation. Enmity. Divorce. Hatred. From love to hatred - one step. From hatred to love - too. But... when and why is this step taken? The cycle “Stories of Different Years” includes stories from the collections “The Same Door” (1959), “Pigeon Feathers” (1962) and “Music School” (1966). “Novels of Different Years” - non-cyclical works of the author and the first in this series is the novel “Centaur”, which is puzzling with its unusualness, because it intertwines bringing together ancient Greek myths and modern reality. Updike identifies his hero with the centaur Chiron, who, like Christ, sacrifices himself and his immortality for the sake of humanity, thereby the writer manages to raise the everyday problems of a simple teacher to the level of eternal themes... The novel “The Farm” is a tragic love story, pain, misfortune and loneliness. A successful New Yorker comes to his childhood farm to introduce his widowed mother to his second wife and stepson. But from the very first minute of this courtesy visit, dangerous tension arises on the farm. You can still defuse it with words. But it thickens more and more... In the novel "Married Couples", the boredom of provincial towns eats away the life of prosperous inhabitants - and, in essence, there is nothing to oppose it... except sex. AND married couples, locked in their cozy, beautifully furnished “prisons,” turn sex into entertainment, and a means of retribution, and a symbol of hope for the best, and a way to forget about the fear of impending death... This novel is a game: it begins with game, and continues as a game, only the one who decides that he has mastered its rules will cruelly miscalculate. The novel “Let's Get Married” is, perhaps, the most cruel work of John Updike, comparable in the degree of ruthless psychological nakedness only with his early “Rabbit, run." This is Love. This is hatred. This is love-hate. This is not even a book, but a truly subtle study of the human soul... The novel “Roger's Tales” contains everything that can be included in intellectual reading, both questions about God and questions about the prohibition of such questions... God still IS?! At least this is what the virtuoso programmer is trying to prove with the help of his computer... At least this is what he is trying to convince the husband of his mistress - a professor of theology... “I think, therefore I exist?” “I believe, for this absurd?” Something else? The novel “Brazil” can be called a modern interpretation of the legend of Tristan and Isolde. True, the action has been moved from the harsh Celtic valleys to Latin America, and the characters are much more frank in expressing their feelings, but the main thing remains - true love overcomes all barriers: racial and class intransigence, hunger, need. The novel “Gertrude and Claudius” in general - that is the anti-Hamlet. These are the voices of the most damned pair of lovers in the entire history of world literature: Gertrude and Claudius. A murderer and a traitor - or simply middle-aged and intelligent man and woman who refused to believe that they were deprived of a future?.. This is the right of the “last word” that the great writer dared to give to “a century that has dislocated a joint.” Will this century be able to protect itself?.. The novel “Villages” is the story of a man who loved sex more than anything else in the world, but at the same time treated the female body with truly religious worship... The story of an unusual personality - from her formation to the last hour. The story of sin and redemption... The story of a man who breaks the boundaries of popular ideas about morality! And finally, the novel “The Terrorist” that concludes this book is the writer’s view of the problem of terrorism in the United States, especially relevant for all Americans after September 11... In Updike’s novel, American terrorism has an almost childlike face. The face of a worker who grew up neighborhood of young men, in whose veins flows an explosive mixture of Arab and Irish blood... The face of an African-American girl who grew up in the hell of youth gangs... The face of her friend, mired in drug trafficking and street violence... They are young, angry and ready to act. Is America a giant melting pot of nations? Or - a powder keg that is about to explode? And if this is so - what can be done to prevent the explosion from happening?..18+Contents: NOVELS ABOUT THE RABBITRabbit, runThe rabbit is backThe rabbit has become richThe rabbit has calmed downThe witches of EASTWICKWIDDS OF EASTWICKSTORIES ABOUT MAPLACHSnow in Greenwich VillageWooing a wifeNative bloodTwo berths in RomeDemonstration in BostonMetallic tasteYour lover calledWaitingUnbridled ErosPipelineFalse trail theorySublimationNudeApartGesturesDivorce (excerpt)Below Maps Grandparents STORIES OF DIFFERENT YEARS - from the collection “The Same Door” Tomorrow Tomorrow Tomorrow and so on Doctors and doctrines The best hour of his life A gift from the city Crocodiles At the pinnacle of happiness - from the collection “Pigeon Feathers” Flight Under Protection Dear Alexandros! Pigeon feathers Home Doctor Rescuer – from the collection “Music School” Leaves Glance Four sides of the coinChristian neighborsLover with dirty nailsMusic schoolBulgarian poetessHermitNOVELS OVER THE YEARSCentaurFarmMarried couplesLet's get marriedRoger's talesBrazilGertrude and ClaudiusVillagesTerrorist