Existing in Time: John Updike´s “The Music School” (1966)

Goetz Egloff

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijla.20170505.11

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Existing in Time: John Updike´s “The Music School” (1966)

Goetz Egloff

Published in International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 5, Issue 5)

Received: 28 June 2017 Accepted: 17 July 2017 Published: 11 August 2017

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Abstract

The essay addresses issues of existence and time in John Updike´s short story, “The Music School”, which was published in 1966 in a short story collection by the same name. While waiting for his daughter in a music school, the writer Alfred Schweigen reflects on the complexities of life, describing his thoughts and impressions. In his everyday dealings with reality, by way of contrasting materiality to immateriality he attempts to make sense of existence as it comes into view. Especially, time not so much as an objective category but as a matter of subjective experiencing is an important aspect. Time as a musical category of rhythm, and as rhythm of life and of transience, is a topos the narrator makes a draft on, approaching an existential view of real-world issues through life philosophy. Some others of Updike´s stories of the sixties make for a thematic kinship, so that it becomes obvious that existence in reference to time provides a point of departure to gain insight into being.

Published in	International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 5, Issue 5)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijla.20170505.11
Page(s)	46-51
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

John Updike, “The Music School”, Short Story, Time, Existence, Literary Modernism

References

[1]	Kostelanetz R (1972). Notes on the American Short Story today. In: Bungert H (ed.). Die amerikanische Short Story. Theorie und Entwicklung. Darmstadt, p. 355.
[2]	Goeller KH, Hoffmann G (1972). Die amerikanische Kurzgeschichte. Duesseldorf, p. 15-16.
[3]	loc. cit.
[4]	loc. cit.
[5]	Goeller, Hoffmann, p. 18-20.
[6]	Goeller, Hoffmann, p. 20.
[7]	The changes in contents brought about changes in forms that would more often than not turn literary conventions upside down; see Klinkowitz J (1980). The American 1960´s: Imaginative Acts in a Decade of Change. Ames IA: Iowa State University Press, and Egloff G (2014). Treating the Fiction of Forms: Metafiction in John Barth. Intl J Literature and Arts, 2, 1, pp. 1-5.
[8]	For the development of the short story also see Current-Garcia E, Patrick WR (1979). What is the Short Story? Case Studies in the Development of a Literary Form. Rev. ed. Glenview IL: Scott, Foresman & Co.
[9]	Greiner DJ (1981). The other John Updike. Athens OH, p. 135.
[10]	cp. Ahrends G (1980). Die amerikanische Kurzgeschichte. Theorie und Entwicklung. Stuttgart, p. 201.
[11]	Kostelanetz, p. 358.
[12]	Kostelanetz, p. 364.
[13]	Thorburn D (1979). Alive in a Place and Time. In: Thorburn D, Eiland H (eds.). John Updike. A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs NJ, p. 2.
[14]	Modernism in the sixties, of course, is a modernism that is mostly either conflated with (psychological) realism, or, at least partially, on the brink of post-modernism (the realistic type quite often being better receptible to readers, though); cp. Kress D, Egloff G (2007). Bilder der 1950er bei Salinger, Roth und Updike. Gesellschaft und Zeitgeschichte in der US-Nachkriegsliteratur. Marburg.
[15]	Ahrends, p. 201.
[16]	Updike J (1966/1967). The Music School. Short Stories. First edition 1966. New York: Fawcett World Library, 1967, p. 138.
[17]	Updike (1966/1967), p. 139.
[18]	loc. cit.
[19]	Updike (1966/1967), p. 140.
[20]	loc. cit.
[21]	loc. cit.
[22]	Greiner, p. 155.
[23]	Updike (1966/1967), p. 140.
[24]	Greiner, p. 155.
[25]	Schiff JA (ed.) (2007). Updike in Cincinnati. A Literary Performance. Athens OH, p. 63.
[26]	cp. Brooks C, Warren RP (1979). Fiction and Human Experience. In: Brooks C, Warren RP (eds.). Understanding Fiction. Englewood Cliffs NJ, pp. 293-296.
[27]	Updike (1966/1967), p. 140.
[28]	Updike (1966/1967), p. 141.
[29]	loc. cit.
[30]	loc. cit.
[31]	cp. Meyer M (2004). English and American Literatures. Tuebingen: Francke, p. 127.
[32]	Updike (1966/1967), p. 142.
[33]	loc. cit.
[34]	Greiner, p. 156.
[35]	Greiner, p. 156-157.
[36]	cp. Mazzeno LW (2013). Becoming John Updike. Critical Reception, 1958-2010. Rochester NY: Camden House, p. 20.
[37]	Vaughan PH (1981). John Updike´s Images of America. Reseda CA: Mojave.
[38]	Thorburn, p. 3.
[39]	Greiner, p. 154.
[40]	cp. Merleau-Ponty M (1945/2011). Phaenomenologie der Wahrnehmung. Berlin: deGruyter.
[41]	Goeller, Hoffmann, p. 21.
[42]	cp. Danzer G (2011). Henri Bergson. In: Danzer G (ed.). Wer sind wir? Anthropologie im 20. Jahrhundert. Berlin/Heidelberg, pp. 17-29.
[43]	Janus L (2000). Die Psychoanalyse der vorgeburtlichen Lebenszeit und der Geburt. Giessen: Psychosozial.
[44]	cp. Rattner J (1995). Maurice Merleau-Ponty. In: Rattner J. Klassiker der Psychoanalyse. Weinheim: Beltz/PVU, pp. 830-853.
[45]	Schiff, p. 63.
[46]	Updike J (1967/1970). The Music School. Short Stories. First published by Andre Deutsch in 1967. London: Penguin, 1970, p. 140.
[47]	Greiner, p. 153.
[48]	loc. cit.
[49]	Updike (1967/1970), p. 140.
[50]	Greiner, p. 153.
[51]	Greiner, p. 134.
[52]	Updike (1966/1967), p. 143.
[53]	Greiner, p. 134.
[54]	Updike J (1962/1979). “A&P”. In: Brooks C, Warren RP (eds.) (1979). Understanding Fiction. Englewood Cliffs NJ, pp. 432-436.
[55]	For more on the story see Uphaus SH (1980). John Updike. New York: Frederick Ungar.
[56]	Kostelanetz, p. 362.
[57]	cp. Batchelor B (2013). John Updike. A Critical Biography. Santa Barbara CA: Praeger/ABC-Clio.
[58]	For an overview of critical responses to his 1960´s prose see Mazzeno (2013).
[59]	Brooks, Warren, pp. 293-296.

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Goetz Egloff. (2017). Existing in Time: John Updike´s “The Music School” (1966). International Journal of Literature and Arts, 5(5), 46-51. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20170505.11

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Goetz Egloff. Existing in Time: John Updike´s “The Music School” (1966). Int. J. Lit. Arts 2017, 5(5), 46-51. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20170505.11

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Goetz Egloff. Existing in Time: John Updike´s “The Music School” (1966). Int J Lit Arts. 2017;5(5):46-51. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20170505.11

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@article{10.11648/j.ijla.20170505.11,
  author = {Goetz Egloff},
  title = {Existing in Time: John Updike´s “The Music School” (1966)},
  journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
  volume = {5},
  number = {5},
  pages = {46-51},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20170505.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20170505.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20170505.11},
  abstract = {The essay addresses issues of existence and time in John Updike´s short story, “The Music School”, which was published in 1966 in a short story collection by the same name. While waiting for his daughter in a music school, the writer Alfred Schweigen reflects on the complexities of life, describing his thoughts and impressions. In his everyday dealings with reality, by way of contrasting materiality to immateriality he attempts to make sense of existence as it comes into view. Especially, time not so much as an objective category but as a matter of subjective experiencing is an important aspect. Time as a musical category of rhythm, and as rhythm of life and of transience, is a topos the narrator makes a draft on, approaching an existential view of real-world issues through life philosophy. Some others of Updike´s stories of the sixties make for a thematic kinship, so that it becomes obvious that existence in reference to time provides a point of departure to gain insight into being.},
 year = {2017}
}

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T1  - Existing in Time: John Updike´s “The Music School” (1966)
AU  - Goetz Egloff
Y1  - 2017/08/11
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N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20170505.11
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Goetz Egloff

Practice for Psychoanalysis, Mannheim, Germany

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Goetz Egloff. (2017). Existing in Time: John Updike´s “The Music School” (1966). International Journal of Literature and Arts, 5(5), 46-51. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20170505.11

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ACS Style

Goetz Egloff. Existing in Time: John Updike´s “The Music School” (1966). Int. J. Lit. Arts 2017, 5(5), 46-51. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20170505.11

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Goetz Egloff. Existing in Time: John Updike´s “The Music School” (1966). Int J Lit Arts. 2017;5(5):46-51. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20170505.11

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ijla.20170505.11,
  author = {Goetz Egloff},
  title = {Existing in Time: John Updike´s “The Music School” (1966)},
  journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
  volume = {5},
  number = {5},
  pages = {46-51},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20170505.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20170505.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20170505.11},
  abstract = {The essay addresses issues of existence and time in John Updike´s short story, “The Music School”, which was published in 1966 in a short story collection by the same name. While waiting for his daughter in a music school, the writer Alfred Schweigen reflects on the complexities of life, describing his thoughts and impressions. In his everyday dealings with reality, by way of contrasting materiality to immateriality he attempts to make sense of existence as it comes into view. Especially, time not so much as an objective category but as a matter of subjective experiencing is an important aspect. Time as a musical category of rhythm, and as rhythm of life and of transience, is a topos the narrator makes a draft on, approaching an existential view of real-world issues through life philosophy. Some others of Updike´s stories of the sixties make for a thematic kinship, so that it becomes obvious that existence in reference to time provides a point of departure to gain insight into being.},
 year = {2017}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Existing in Time: John Updike´s “The Music School” (1966)
AU  - Goetz Egloff
Y1  - 2017/08/11
PY  - 2017
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20170505.11
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijla.20170505.11
T2  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JF  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JO  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
SP  - 46
EP  - 51
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2331-057X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20170505.11
AB  - The essay addresses issues of existence and time in John Updike´s short story, “The Music School”, which was published in 1966 in a short story collection by the same name. While waiting for his daughter in a music school, the writer Alfred Schweigen reflects on the complexities of life, describing his thoughts and impressions. In his everyday dealings with reality, by way of contrasting materiality to immateriality he attempts to make sense of existence as it comes into view. Especially, time not so much as an objective category but as a matter of subjective experiencing is an important aspect. Time as a musical category of rhythm, and as rhythm of life and of transience, is a topos the narrator makes a draft on, approaching an existential view of real-world issues through life philosophy. Some others of Updike´s stories of the sixties make for a thematic kinship, so that it becomes obvious that existence in reference to time provides a point of departure to gain insight into being.
VL  - 5
IS  - 5
ER  -

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