''Roger's Version'' is a 1986

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

by American writer

John Updike John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short-story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once (the others being Booth ...

Plot summary

The novel is about Roger Lambert, a theology professor in his fifties, whose rather complacent faith is challenged by Dale, an evangelical graduate student who believes he can prove that God exists with computer science. Roger becomes obsessed with the thought that Dale is having an affair with his wife, Esther. Roger himself becomes involved with his niece Verna, a coarse but lively nineteen-year-old and single parent whose own mother (Roger's half-sister) had a sexual hold over him when they were in their teens. Verna, frustrated by her poverty and limited opportunities, becomes increasingly abusive towards her one-and-a-half-year-old, mixed-race daughter, Paula. Roger, out of sympathy for her situation and his increasing sexual attraction for her, begins to tutor Verna so she can earn her high school equivalency. One evening, when Paula refuses to go to sleep, Verna shoves and hits her; Paula falls and breaks her leg. Roger, after helping Verna disguise the assault as a playground accident from the hospital staff, has sex with her. Dale, meanwhile, grows depressed and disillusioned when his computer data does not seem to point to the existence of God. The novel ends with Verna leaving Boston to return to her parents in Cleveland, and Roger and Esther receiving temporary custody of Paula.

Major themes

The novel's structure, characters and themes are based somewhat on

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...

's ''

The Scarlet Letter ''The Scarlet Letter: A Romance'' is a work of historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym ...

'', with Roger Lambert representing

Roger Chillingworth Roger Chillingworth is a fictional character and primary antagonist in the 1850 novel ''The Scarlet Letter'' by Nathaniel Hawthorne. He is an English scholar who moves to the New World after his wife, Hester Prynne. Chillingworth, a doctor and s ...

, his wife Esther as

Hester Prynne Hester Prynne is the protagonist of Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1850 novel ''The Scarlet Letter''. She is portrayed as a woman condemned by her Puritan neighbors. The character has been called "among the first and most important female protagonists in ...

, Dale standing for

Arthur Dimmesdale Arthur Dimmesdale is a fictional character in the 1850 romance ''The Scarlet Letter'' by Nathaniel Hawthorne. A Puritan minister, he has fathered an illegitimate child, Pearl, with Hester Prynne and considers himself unable to reveal his sin. Nex ...

, and Paula a version of Hester's illegitimate daughter Pearl. The review for ''Publishers Weekly'' said the novel was focused on longstanding themes of Updike's work: "reason versus faith; science versus religion; belief versus any of the forms of unbelief." The ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' review by novelist David Lodge described the novel as having five major thematic areas: theology, eroticism, domesticity, physical description and science. All of these themes are mediated by the narrating character Roger, which Lodge describes as at times "over he reader'shead, at least on first reading."

Critical reception

''Publishers Weekly'' was not impressed with the novel, writing "for all Updike's finesse and dexterity in the deployment of ideas, there is more arcane computerology here than readers, including his most devoted, can digest by force-feeding, and probably more theology as well. Most readers will also think the characters contrived, mouthpieces for the perspectives they espouse." Some voices found the novel praiseworthy, with David Lodge writing, "One finishes it with gratitude – for it is challenging and educative – and with renewed respect for one of the most intelligent and resourceful of contemporary novelists."

References

1986 American novels Ambassador Book Award-winning works Novels by John Updike Alfred A. Knopf books {{1980s-novel-stub