SOURCE: "Native Fathers," in Kenyon Review, Vol. XIV, No. 2, Spring, 1992, pp. 44-55.

In the following essay, Clausen compares and contrasts John Updike's works—including his 1990 novel Rabbit at Rest—and Wideman's works, particularly Philadelphia Fire.

Two American boys, both named John, born less than a decade apart ('32 and '41), grow up in different regions of Pennsylvania. Brilliant students (one summa cum laude at Harvard, the other an Oxford Rhodes scholar), they become prolific authors, mining childhood memories to create fictional communities through which they portray American (Euro-and African-) life and values. By the time they reach middle age, their book jackets glitter with mention of prizes and honors and those obligatory, weirdly competitive clichés culled from old reviews: "Most gifted writer of his generation—the New York Times"; "Perhaps the most gifted black novelist of his generation—the Nation."

In 1990, each publishes a major novel featuring...