The Complete Henry Bech

Collected in one volume for the first time--and featuring a final, series-capping story, "His Oeuvre"--John Updike's Bech stories have been a fixture of the American literary imagination since they first began appearing in "The New Yorker" more than 30 years ago. Ribbon marker.

The Jewish American novelist Henry Bech—procrastinating, libidinous, and tart-tongued, his reputation growing while his powers decline—made his first appearance in 1965, in John Updike’s “The Bulgarian Poetess.” That story won the O. Henry First Prize, and it and the six Bech adventures that followed make up this collection. “Bech is the writer in me,” Updike once said, “creaking but lusty, battered but undiscourageable, fed on the blood of ink and the bread of white paper.” As he trots the globe, promotes himself, and lurches from one woman’s bed to another’s, Bech views life with a blend of wonder and cynicism that will make followers of the lit-biz smile with delight and wince in recognition.

Henry Bech, the celebrated author of Travel Light, has been scrutinized, canonized and vilified by critics and readers across the world. This work explores the writing life and what happens when a writer becomes a literary celebrity.

In this, the final volume in John Updike’s mock-heroic trilogy about the Jewish American writer Henry Bech, our hero is older but scarcely wiser. Now in his seventies, he remains competitive, lecherous, and self-absorbed, lost in a brave new literary world where his books are hyped by Swiss-owned conglomerates, showcased in chain stores attached to espresso bars, and returned to warehouses just three weeks later. In five chapters more startling and surreal than any that have come before, Bech presides over the American literary scene, enacts bloody revenge on his critics, and wins the world’s most coveted writing prize. It’s not easy being Henry Bech in the post-Gutenbergian world, but somebody has to do it, and he brings to the task his signature mixture of grit, spit, and ennui.

Early in the 1900s, one-time oil baron Henry Morrison Flagler took interest in the Southern coast of Florida and began developing an exclusive resort community. Establishing a railroad that would allow easier access to the area, he went on to build two hotels—his hope was that America’s first families would come to populate the area. This modest community would later evolve into an iconic American destination, hosting British royalty, American movie stars, and becoming the home-away-from-home to some of the country’s leading families. As the century continued, Palm Beach established itself as a luxury hideaway synonymous with old-world glamour and new-world sophistication. In this splendid volume, longtime resident and Palm Beach social fixture Aerin Lauder takes us through her Palm Beach. From favorite restaurants like Nandos and Renatos, to favorite houses like La Follia and Villa Artemis, she takes us to the elite shopping of Worth Avenue and the scenic walkways of the Lake Worth trail, all the while relating to us the histories, faces, and places that have become so identified with Palm Beach.