Updike Exhibit Begins

Joining the ranks of Keats and Milton, John Updike '54 opened an exhibit of his manuscripts at the Houghton Museum yesterday with a discussion about the general value of manuscripts and the controversy surrounding one of his books.

The exhibition, formally ushered in earlier this week with a black-tie reception, includes manuscripts, proofsheets, and drawings dating from notes Updike wrote in 1952 while at Harvard to a draft of his most recent novel, "Roger's Version," finished two years ago.

"First, we want to show something about the process of writing," said Houghton Manuscripts Cataloguer Elizabeth A. Falsey, who organized the exhibit. "Second, we want to show how one can draw conclusions about writing by its content," she said in her introduction to Updike's speech yesterday.

Updike talked for almost 45 minutes about the publishing of "Rabbit Run," which he called "the most troubled of my novelled text."

"Some parts were too sexy for what was then considered to be the going rate,'" Updike said, in reference to sexually explicit scenes in the work.

Updike first sold "Rabbit Run" to the publishing firm of Alfred A. Knopf, which put out a hardcover version that mitigated or deleted scenes considered "racy".

"But I was determined to get my text in print," said Updike. "I wanted them to publish the best possible writing I could produce."

So Updike turned to Bantam Books, which agreed to publish his novel, unedited, in paperback. Knopf was forced to change its hardcover versions to include the original text in order to compete, Updike said.

With several subsequent printings by many different poublishers, critics have debated which version is the "authoritative" one.

"[As a general rule] I do not believe that authors should go around changing books that have already been published," said Updike. The first version, he said, is the "right" one.