The Poorhouse Fair: A Novel“Brilliant . . . Here is the conflict of real ideas; of real personalities; here is a work of intellectual imagination and great charity. The Poorhouse Fair is a work of art.”—The New York Times Book Review The hero of John Updike’s first novel, published when the author was twenty-six, is ninety-four-year-old John Hook, a dying man who yet refuses to be dominated. His world is a poorhouse—a county home for the aged and infirm—overseen by Stephen Conner, a righteous young man who considers it his duty to know what is best for others. The action of the novel unfolds over a single summer’s day, the day of the poorhouse’s annual fair, a day of escalating tensions between Conner and the rebellious Hook. Its climax is a contest between progress and tradition, benevolence and pride, reason and faith. Praise for The Poorhouse Fair “A first novel of rare precision and real merit . . . a rich poorhouse indeed.”—Newsweek “Turning on a narrow plot of ground, it achieves the rarity of bounded, native truth, and comes forth as microcosm.”—Commonweal |
Contents
Section 1 | 1 |
Section 2 | 24 |
Section 3 | 55 |
Section 4 | 59 |
Section 5 | 73 |
Section 6 | 100 |
Section 7 | 105 |
Section 8 | 118 |
Section 9 | 153 |
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Common terms and phrases
Angelo animal asked believe beneath better bird blue body Buddy called cause chair close cloth color Conner continued dark don't door drop eyes face fair feel feet felt gave girl give gone grass green Gregg half hands head hear held hold Hook Hook's hope keep knew laughed less lifted light lips living looked lower Lucas Mark mind morning Mortis mouth moved needed never pain passed past perhaps poor poorhouse porch present rain remembered seemed seen sense showed side sitting smiled standing stones stood talk tell thing thought took touch town trees turned voice walk wall watched window wing woman women wondered young