Golf Dreams & more

Synopsis

Selected stories & observations from the great American writer & Pulitzer Prize-winning author John UpdikeJohn Updike was one of the greatest American writers of his generation. In a career spanning half a century, he wrote over 50 books chronicling middle-class white America in the postwar years, and its changing attitudes to sex, divorce and religion. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including the National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award, and won the Pulitzer Prize twice, for two volumes of his classic ‘Rabbit’ quintet.Updike was an avid golfer for many years, and this collection opens with a selection of writings taken from his book, Golf Dreams, read by Updike himself. In five pieces, he discourses on the bliss and torment of the game, the pros and cons of caddies, an inadvertent outing to a miniature golf course and the Amazonian warriors participating in the US Women’s Open.These entertaining reflections are followed by six outstanding short stories, four of which are narrated by John Updike. ‘The Afterlife’, set in East Anglia in 1986, explores middle age and mortality; ‘Cruise’ centres around the relationship between an older man and his much younger lover; ‘Scenes from the 50s’ sees an elderly antique dealer recalling his youth and one life-changing night in 1959; and ‘New York Girl’ finds a married man escaping domesticity in the Big Apple in the 1960s. In ‘The Faint’, read by John Guerrasio, Freddy Python wonders whether to finish with his girlfriend, and in ‘Poker Night’, read by Kerry Shale, our unnamed protagonist refuses to let a cancer diagnosis interfere with the fortnightly poker game he’s been attending for 30 years.These stories are complemented by a fascinating documentary tracing Updike’s career from 1969, when he came to international recognition, to shortly before his death in 2009. Presented by Mark Lawson, From Midpoint to Endpoint: Talking with John Updike comprises interviews with the author, extracts from programmes such as With Great Pleasure and Arena and the writer’s readings of his own stories and memoirs – with topics including writing, sex, death, God, golf and American presidents from Hoover to Obama.Cast and creditsWritten by John UpdikeGolf DreamsRead by John UpdikeProduced by Duncan MinshullFirst broadcast BBC Radio 4, 2-6 Mar 1998The AfterlifeRead by John UpdikeProduced by Martin JenkinsFirst broadcast BBC Radio 3, 19 Dec 1992CruiseRead by John UpdikeProduced by Martin JenkinsFirst broadcast BBC Radio 3, 26 Dec 1994Scenes from the 50sRead by John UpdikeProduced by Martin JenkinsFirst broadcast BBC Radio 3, 28 Dec 1994New York GirlRead by John UpdikeProduced by Martin JenkinsFirst broadcast BBC Radio 3, 28 Dec 1996The FaintRead by John GuerrasioProduced by Viv BeebyFirst broadcast BBC Radio 4, 2 Dec 1993Poker NightRead by Kerry ShaleProduced by Matthew WaltersFirst broadcast BBC Radio 4, 23 Aug 1989From Midpoint to Endpoint: Talking with John UpdikePresented by Mark LawsonProduced by Robyn ReadFirst broadcast BBC Radio 4, 4 Apr 2009Text copyright © John Updike 1979 (The Faint), 1984 (Poker Night), 1986 (The Afterlife), 1994 (Cruise, Scenes from the Fifties), 1996 (Golf Dreams, New York Girl)All rights reserved© 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd