While there may be no annus mirabilis in Updike's career, it seems fair to say that the decade of the 1980s was not only one of his most productive but also, perhaps, his most noteworthy. The first five years were ones of significant accomplishment. He began by publishing the third novel in the Rabbit series, following that highly acclaimed work with a sequel to his 1970 book on Henry Bech. A year later he issued a hefty collection of his nonfiction before making a bold foray into feminist literature with The Witches of Eastwick. Consistent with his publishing practice, in 1985 he issued a collection of previously published poetry. Updike's new publications continued to generate considerable notice— even his poetry collection, Facing Nature, was reviewed in more than two dozen publications—while a growing number of academics added to the body of critical commentary on his work.

The overwhelming commercial and critical success of Rabbit Is Rich, discussed immediately below, cemented Updike's reputation as a major force on the American literary scene. One could like him or not, but it was impossible to ignore him. As Margaret Manning (1982) observed in a brief note about the republication of The Carpentered Hen in 1982, “If John Updike isn't already a national monument, he seems to be becoming one” (A19). By 1983, Updike had become such an iconic (if still controversial) figure on the publishing scene that Victoria Glendinning (1983) could begin her review of Bech Is Back with the observation that “a new John Updike novel, like it or not, is a publishing event” (83).