John Updike's 50 Shades Of Grey

Six years ago, “50 Shades of Grey” was published, and the general public was introduced to an explicitly sexual novel in what appeared to be the first time that smut fiction was so heavily involved in a mainstream book. The novel went viral, sold millions of copies, and seemingly started the genre of ‘new adult’ novels. Although this type of fiction is generally accepted in today’s culture, it was not the case five decades ago. Very few authors at the time were brave enough to write about the act of sex or even refer to anything remotely erotic, as it was certainly considered taboo. John Updike was one of those authors, constantly checking the pulse of society’s sexual health and working to push back on the negative connotation of sex, one
“Sex—usually adulterous—is the key to self-fulfillment” (Kapp) for the main character in “Villages,” a story regarded by critics and reviewers as Updike’s semi-autobiography. Many of Updike’s stories were set in the Northeast, specifically in and around Massachusetts, where Updike and his family had settled for most of his adult life. “Couples” was set in fake the town of Tarbox, which closely resembled the city of Ipswich, the suburban community Updike lived in, when he wrote the novel. This particular story follows the daily escapades of ten couples, all whom live in the community and frequently participate in adultery, often sharing partners amongst themselves. Begley wrote that “Several of the couples had already had affairs before moving to Ipswich…the group’s closeness had something to do with the collective willingness to indulge in extramarital sex” (3657). This seemingly tight-knit group that enjoyed extra-marital activities is probably what prompted Updike to fight against the public’s constricting views on
Specifically, in “A&P,” Updike’s use of teenage girls in two-piece bikinis, especially in such a public and unusual place, like the supermarket (201-202), was most definitely a shock to readers. Bikinis were just getting popular at the time and were seen as rebellious, and then to wear them into a supermarket would have been considered doubly offensive. Updike constantly wrote his stories with themes that were on the outskirts of what would be considered normal and acceptable at the times of their publishing. And it was not limited to just sex and lust, but sex in taboo situations, like in “A Month of Sundays,” where Updike writes about a sex-addicted religious minister, named Tom Marshfield. De Feo describes the book and the profane plot, “at his parish he was something of a sexual-spiritual athlete, administering to a host of women…In adultery he has found not only excitement but spiritual fulfillment as well” (679). Moving forward, he was considered to be a major contributor to the genre of American short stories, and as one of the frontrunners, he certainly blazed his own path when it came to sex in literature. Critics believed that the sex scenes and the prose that Updike used to describe them were remarkably explicit and