Título: John Updike
Seção: Early life and education
Background: John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 - January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only three writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once (the others were Booth Tarkington and William Faulkner), Updike published more than twenty novels, more than a dozen short-story collections, as well as poetry, art and literary criticism and children's books during his career.

Conteúdo: Updike was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, the only child of Linda Grace (nee Hoyer) and Wesley Russell Updike, and was raised in the nearby small town of Shillington. The family later moved to the unincorporated village of Plowville. His mother's attempts to become a published writer impressed the young Updike. "One of my earliest memories", he later recalled, "is of seeing her at her desk... I admired the writer's equipment, the typewriter eraser, the boxes of clean paper. And I remember the brown envelopes that stories would go off in--and come back in."  These early years in Berks County, Pennsylvania, would influence the environment of the Rabbit Angstrom tetralogy, as well as many of his early novels and short stories. Updike graduated from Shillington High School as co-valedictorian and class president in 1950 and received a full scholarship to Harvard College, where he was the roommate of Christopher Lasch during their freshman year. Updike had already received recognition for his writing as a teenager by winning a Scholastic Art & Writing Award, and at Harvard he soon became well known among his classmates as a talented and prolific contributor to The Harvard Lampoon, of which he served as president. He graduated summa cum laude in 1954 with a degree in English and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa Society.  Upon graduation, Updike attended the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art at the University of Oxford with the ambition of becoming a cartoonist. After returning to 

user: Where was Updike born?

assistant: Updike was born in Reading, Pennsylvania,

user: Did Updike stay in Pennsylvania his entire life?

assistant: the nearby small town of Shillington. The family later moved to the unincorporated village of Plowville.

user: Where did Updike go to college?

assistant: received a full scholarship to Harvard College,

user: Did Updike do any activities at college?

assistant: Updike had already received recognition for his writing as a teenager by winning a Scholastic Art & Writing Award,

user: Did his upbringing affect his novels?

assistant: Upon graduation, Updike attended the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art at the University of Oxford with the ambition of becoming a cartoonist.

user: What was his first job as a cartoonist?

assistant: CANNOTANSWER

user: What did his parents do?

assistant: His mother's attempts to become a published writer impressed the young Updike.

user: How did Updike start writing?

assistant: His mother's attempts to become a published writer impressed the young Updike. "One

user: What was Updike's college experience like?

assistant: Harvard he soon became well known among his classmates as a talented and prolific contributor to The Harvard Lampoon, of which he served as president.