Remembering John Updike and His Sense of Place

Tom Swick: Contemplating and celebrating the world of travel

01.27.09 | 4:57 PM ET

With great sadness I heard about the death of John Updike. There was not a single travel book in his oversized oeuvre, yet in his novels he captured the spirit of places—New England, eastern Pennsylvania, southwestern Florida—with remarkable insight and dazzling style.

Shortly after hearing the news I went to my bookshelves, pulled out “Rabbit At Rest,” and found our hero at the airport, waiting for his son and imagining being on Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, “the whole cozy world dropping away and nothing under you but black space and your chest squeezed by the terrible unbreathable cold, that cold you can scarcely believe is there but that you sometimes actually feel still packed into the suitcases, stored in the unpressurized hold, when you unpack your clothes, the dirty underwear and beach towels with the merciless chill of death from outer space still in them.”

Tags: Literature, North America, United States, Florida, Pennsylvania

Tom Swick

Tom Swick is the author of two books: a travel memoir, Unquiet Days: At Home in Poland, and a collection of travel stories, A Way to See the World: From Texas to Transylvania with a Maverick Traveler. He was the travel editor of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel for 19 years, and his work has been included in "The Best American Travel Writing" 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2008.


3 Comments for Remembering John Updike and His Sense of Place

Shannon from NY 01.27.09 | 6:33 PM ET

What a beautiful tribute and fitting tribute.
Thank you.

Eva Holland 01.27.09 | 9:35 PM ET

Thanks for this, Tom. Updike was probably the first writer to introduce me to small-town America. You’re right—very few have “captured the spirit of places” like he did.

Simon 01.28.09 | 12:26 AM ET

Who could have thought he was so sick! The most recent video I posted to my blog doesn’t show any signs.

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