Rabbir's Quest For The Meaning Of Existence In John Updike's Rabbit, Run

John Updike is one of the greatest contemporary American writers. His works are widely read and discussed since he achieved recognition as a literary author with the publication of Rabbit, Run in 1960. His major subjects are the domestic life of the American middle-class and its attendant rituals marriage, sex, child-rearing, and divorce. Against the calm setting of suburban America, and in concurrence with his interpretation of the thought of philosopher Soren Kierkegaard andtheologian Karl Barth, Updike presents people-usually man-searching for meaning in thepainful awareness of their mortality and basic powerlessness. Rabbit, Run, which was the first of his Rabbit tetralogy, won Updike great fame, and became Updike's most well-known novel. Updike has been listed in the Top Ten Contemporary American Writers to be studied in China. To study John Updike, we cannot ignore his Rabbit tetralogy, and to study Rabbit tetralogy, we should have no better choice but begin from the first installment, Rabbit, Run.In China, few critical monographs about Updike can be found, but only some journal articles are available, which are mostly introductory studies about the writer and the novels. As far as Rabbit, Run is concerned, most English critical works are more about the techniques rather than themes of the novel. My study focuses specifically on the protagonist's quest for the meaning of existence, based on Soren Kierkegaard's Christian Existentialism as well as Karl Barth's theological ideas.This thesis consists of altogether four parts:The first part gives a brief introduction to John Updike and Rabbit, Run. It introduces the life of Updike, his position in the literary field, the plot of the novel, and a schematic literary review of the novel. It also points out the significance of the thesis.The second part presents the theoretical base for the thesis. It introduces the primary theological ideas of Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard and Swiss theologian Karl Barth: three spheres of existence, theological ideas of the dialectic of evil, the concept of "something and nothingness", and the Wholly Other God.The third part stands as the body of the thesis. It analyzes the three spheres of Rabbit's life, namely, the aesthetical, the ethical and the religious spheres. In addition, it shows the reader how Rabbit quests for the meaning of existence in a zigzagging, circular and repetitive way.The last part draws a conclusion for the whole study.