SOURCE: “Bitches and Witches,” in Nation, June 23, 1984, pp. 773–75.

In the following review, Pollitt strongly criticizes Updike's portrayal of women and contemporary gender stereotypes in The Witches of Eastwick.

After one of my male friends praised The Witches of Eastwick for its uncanny understanding of what it feels like to be a woman, I promised myself I wouldn't review it. Life is short, after all, and I was sure reviewers would be lining up to pan this silly and patronizing fable of New England divorcées who find liberation in sorcery. So far, though, critics have been deferential, with women, interestingly, making some of the deepest salaams. What are we coming to when Margaret Atwood, Canada's answer to Marilyn French, is less able to confront Updike's views of women than Newsweek's Peter Prescott, who supports barring females from the Century Club?

“The word ‘backlash’ will be spoken,” says...