In John Updike's later stories, his signature protagonist―a onetime small-town Pennsylvania boy deeply moved by art, sex, faith, and the mystery of existence―arrives at middle age to find that the world remains a vale of soul-making. The Library of America presents the first of two volumes in its definitive Updike collection. Here are 102 classic stories that chart Updike's emergence as America's foremost practitioner of the short story, "our second Hawthorne," as Philip Roth described him. Based on new archival research, each story is presented in its final definitive form and in order of composition, established here for the first time. LIBRARY OF AMERICAis an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation's literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America's best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.