The Poorhouse Fair, John Updike’s first novel, was written in 1957 and published in January of 1959. For this, its sixth printing, the author has appended an introduction discussing the book’s inspiration, its aesthetic sources and models in classics of science fiction, and the way in which its future (projected to be about 1977) compares with the present. The Poorhouse Fair was hailed at the time of its publication as “a rare and beautiful achievement” and “a work of intellectual imagination and great charity.” Though its future has degenerated into our present, and Updike’s later work is better known, such critics as Henry Bech have hailed this little novel as, still, “surely his masterpiece.”
- ISBN10 1299069363
- ISBN13 9781299069367
- Publish Date 1 January 2012 (first published 12 February 1977)
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 11 March 2015
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Random House
- Format eBook
- Language English