This was my first foray into Updike, so I jumped in without exactly knowing what to expect. Instead of doing the English major sort of thing and doing some preliminary research, I delved into the book so I could form my own reactions and opinions. It turned out to be something other than anything I was expecting. Of course now that I have done some research on Updike and am a little more familiar with his writing style, it should have been exactly what I expected. True to form, the Witches of Eastwick is a highly descriptive, luridly detailed novel that delves deeply into personal relationships. The plot centers around the lives of three divorcees, Alexandra Spofford, Jane Smart, and Sukie Rougement, in the Rhode Island town of Eastwick. As is suggested by the title, all three women have developed supernatural powers after their divorces. The three friends have been enjoying the empowerment of their liberated, post divorce lives as they take whatever pleasures they desire, after all "being a divorcee in a small town is a little like playing Monopoly; eventually you land on all the properties" (Updike, 25). Yet there is apparently diminishing return in that sort of life as they become increasingly bored. Enter Darryl Van Horne, a brusque New York city business man and inventor. He buys a long abandoned mansion just outside of town and provides the shake-up that the three witches had been looking for. Alexandra and Jane both harbor desires to make this man their own as they trade their Thursday evening gatherings with each other for a steamier get together in Van Horne's hot tub.
The town and the women are given another shake-up when a murder-suicide takes place. That event prompts the introduction of another character into the witches' lives, as the grown children of the deceased return to town. The witches take young Jenny under their wing and invite her and her brother to their gathering with Van Horne. Things do not exactly go as planned for the women as Jenny usurps the position coveted by Lexa and Jane as the sole object of Van Horne's affections. As the women emerge from the fog of being under Van Horne's influence, they have choices to make about how they want to react to their new situation. I'll end my synopsis there and let any readers of the blog find out what happens from there on their own. That should be enough of a refresher for anyone who has read the book and enough context for anyone who has not.
I really enjoyed and am intrigued by this book. I have read and heard many responses that dismiss this book as either not the best from Updike or lacking depth as a novel in general. These impressions do not give this work enough credit. It is said that this novel was written in part as a response to Updike's critics to show that he can write from a woman's perspective and does not hate women as was suggested. If that is the case, then it would make sense that this novel is not quite as strong as some of his other work because he is writing from a vantage point that he is not quite comfortable with. I cannot understand how readers could not recognize the depth of this novel though. I believe that most readers write it off because of large role that sex plays, but if you can get beyond that there is a wealth of insights and intriguing possibilities in this novel. As my professor pointed out, there are a million paper topics contained in this book. My favorite possibility to pursue, and one that I am currently pursuing in a paper, is the feminist angle. Given Updike's previous unflattering depiction of women and his current witches' preoccupation with the carnal, critics were quick to respond negatively from a feminist vantage point, but I believe that is an overreaction to the surface elements of the novel as well as an unfair carry over of preconceptions about Updike. Despite the three's seeming obsession with sex and the control Darryl Van Horne is able to exert over them, these are strong women who have a lot of influence over their environment in a time when women were just starting to take control over their own lives. They obviously are flawed characters and still carry the effects of previous conceptions about the limitations of gender even while being on the front line of the sexual revolution. Yet they still are on that front line. They did divorce their husbands and they have turned their attentions inward, breaking the cycle of always putting themselves secondary to the men in their lives. As a result they develop not only supernatural powers but also power over their own lives as they recognize what it is they desire and pursue that. Much of that power and desire manifests itself in sex, but that is somewhat logical since it was sexual desire that was denied to them for so long and it is through sex which they can manipulate other men in the community. It is particularly interesting to me to explore what it is which the women actually gain from their sexual escapades and what their primary motivators are. I believe that by analyzing the needs they are trying to meet as well as the result of their actions in relation to sex reveals a very feminist stance in the novel.
There are plenty of other incredibly intriguing ideas to pursue though. I am embarrassed to admit that I did not consciously recognize Darryl Van Horne as a Satan figure until it was pointed out in my later research. That being the case, his eventual involvement with the Unitarian church and more specifically the sermon he delivered is a damning assertion against that denomination and raises some very interesting question about religion and Updike's views on it. In that same vein, the local newspaper is named the Word an allusion to the bible and is edited by Clyde Gabriel, the angel who announced the coming of Christ. Yet it is for this newspaper that Sukie writes her weekly gossip column about local affairs and is far from a literately prestigious periodical. It is also within the Unitarian church which where a woman gains the only recognized position of power in the form of Brenda assuming the role of minister. It is a convoluted variety of messages that is incredibly interesting to wade through.
There is also another angle which my professor pursued in his own published work on the book. He drew the comparisons between Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter and Updike's work. Professor Plath saw the Witches of Eastwick as a modern reimagining of Hawthorne's Colonial New England. The witches become central to the novel instead of being on the periphery as they are in the Scarlet Lette and adultery becomes more everyday in Updike's vision. It that line of analysis is interesting to you then I encourage you to look up the article Giving the Devil His Due by James Plath.
This book is very rich in really fascinating detail and in my second time through it, more and more stands out to me. It is worth the read just for some of the quotes. The prose is fantastic and as I write my paper I will probably use the blog to explore some more ideas that I have. If not though, expect the next post to concern Tim O'Brien's Going After Cacciato.
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