Trinity

The Textual Plurality of “Separating” March 4, 2009

In his short story “Separating”, John Updike illustrates the central narrative device of the text through an internal observation of the main character:  “Each moment was a partition, with the past on one side and the future on the other” (2714).  The story could be classified as a vignette; at first glance, it seems much more evocative of a scene from a larger cycle than a self-contained unit of narrative, missing key plot points at either end.  However, it is precisely this interaction of unrevealed past, unsettled present, and untold future that supports the framework of integrated experience within the text.  In “Separating”, Updike creates a textual representation of the subjective experience of a family’s separation, developing and maintaining narrative tension by presenting an ambiguous history, subverting social conventions regarding emotional condition, and not providing a resolution to the central questions raised by the story. (more…)