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Pygmalion
3 pages, Unknown Binding
First published July 1, 1981
About the author
John Updike
819 books2,332 followersJohn Hoyer Updike was an American writer. Updike's most famous work is his Rabbit series (Rabbit, Run; Rabbit Redux; Rabbit Is Rich; Rabbit At Rest; and Rabbit Remembered). Rabbit is Rich and Rabbit at Rest both won Pulitzer Prizes for Updike. Describing his subject as "the American small town, Protestant middle class," Updike is well known for his careful craftsmanship and prolific writing, having published 22 novels and more than a dozen short story collections as well as poetry, literary criticism and children's books. Hundreds of his stories, reviews, and poems have appeared in The New Yorker since the 1950s. His works often explore sex, faith, and death, and their inter-relationships.
He died of lung cancer at age 76.
He died of lung cancer at age 76.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
June 16, 2014
It was 'reawy' nice, but fell one step short of making its supposed point.
December 27, 2023
at the end it all becomes the same
Read
March 31, 2023i wish it was longer :( really well written, and i love its ties to the other pygmalion myths i've read -- i think it's most similar to naomi which is probably my favorite
June 23, 2014
Are relationships and people what we see/mould them or are they who they are... Read the short story to find out !! Sweet, smart read ...
March 2, 2016
It was a nice short story... a little too short for my liking, it left me wanting more. Did he get a third wife?
March 25, 2020
Interesting depiction of marriage & social settings - man cannot understand a gathering until his wife later acts it out for him. Image of moulding this perfect woman as does Pygmalion, in aspects of personality and sexuality. His first wife isn’t sexually ‘suitable’ for him, ends up falling into this same trap with the second wife - really interesting but probably a little too short & I’d have liked to read more on a possible third wife? Does he ever get one?
October 28, 2020
Accurate depiction of marriage.
One can't have it all.
I'm just happy it ended that way. Serves him right for discarding the first wife!
I guess the genre of this would be a distorted, subverted romance. All their interactions are in a bedroom so that in itself is already indicative of their relationship.
I just didn't like it is all.
One can't have it all.
I'm just happy it ended that way. Serves him right for discarding the first wife!
I guess the genre of this would be a distorted, subverted romance. All their interactions are in a bedroom so that in itself is already indicative of their relationship.
I just didn't like it is all.
March 8, 2022
reawwwwy short!
this was inspired by Ovid's Pygmalion, a story of sculptor cyprus who fell in love with a marble statue of a woman he created. In Ovid's Metamorphoses, aphrodite blesses the man by making the statue come to life. while Updike's Pygmalion, portrays a more 'realistic' touch of a woman based on one's standards. a depiction of marriage and affairs where one surely can't have it all.
this was inspired by Ovid's Pygmalion, a story of sculptor cyprus who fell in love with a marble statue of a woman he created. In Ovid's Metamorphoses, aphrodite blesses the man by making the statue come to life. while Updike's Pygmalion, portrays a more 'realistic' touch of a woman based on one's standards. a depiction of marriage and affairs where one surely can't have it all.
November 28, 2017
I'll have to read it over a few times. Not much in the realm of enjoyment on my first go, but perhaps another try will reveal something worthy of remembrance.
February 5, 2019
“He could not know the world, was his fear, unless a woman translated it for him." This line really got me. I also really liked the ending.
June 12, 2019
Go figure human. A smart and witty story that leaves you nodding your head.
February 9, 2020
So a man loves this one thing about his wife, but she isn't everything he wants.
His mistress is what he wants, but then he misses that one character trait of his first wife.
...sigh
His mistress is what he wants, but then he misses that one character trait of his first wife.
...sigh
December 26, 2020
2nd become like 1st, he didn’t like
Let people be themselves
Maybe its about fate???
Let people be themselves
Maybe its about fate???
February 13, 2021
Красивая речь, аккуратная и эффектная короткая история.
"brought back, for a dazzling instant, the presence of an absent acquaintance"
"that small something in her that was all her own"
"brought back, for a dazzling instant, the presence of an absent acquaintance"
"that small something in her that was all her own"
December 1, 2022
too short but.. as i always say… down with pygmalion. any version of pygmalion.
August 22, 2014
You can't have it all...
June 20, 2014
A short story that will leave you with that awkward feeling in the end..it's more than worth your 5 minutes to read it!
June 23, 2014
I didn't think much of it to be honest.
March 1, 2016
Quite a twisting short story; left me with an eerie feeling, wanting more
January 15, 2016
Reawwy Short
April 30, 2016
Heh. This was pretty great.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews