Updike's importance in contemporary literature is stressed by this and the following work. Here Mr. Taylor relates Updike to themesdomi­nant in American literature since colonial days--the idealization of rustic life and rejection of it--both of which themes show in Updike's work, according to Taylor. In relating Updike's fiction to pastoral and anti-pastoral patterns Taylor makes a valuable contribution to literary history as well as to critical understanding of an outstanding contemporary writer.