John Updike, In the Beauty of the Lilies

Laurence Mazzeno (Alvernia College)

Ed. by Sofia Ahlberg, Uppsala University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Nicole Kennedy (University of Newcastle), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1996

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United States (Country of Origin)

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Novel

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Generally considered Updike’s first venture into historical fiction,

In the Beauty of the Lilies

traces the lives of four generations of the Wilmot family, covering the majority of the twentieth century. Updike’s biographer Adam Begley describes this novel as “easily” his “most ambitious” (452). Similar to the Rabbit tetralogy, in which Updike chronicles the life of Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom as he confronts changes in American society over four turbulent decades in the nation’s history,

In the Beauty of the Lilies

examines changes in the nation over a span of eighty years through the lens of its characters’ personal histories as they move from the East Coast to California and Colorado. The novel was awarded the 1997 Ambassador Book Award, a prize given to a work that…

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Citation: Mazzeno, Laurence. "In the Beauty of the Lilies". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 March 2025 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=12973, accessed 29 March 2025.]

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John Updike, In the Beauty of the Lilies

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