Henry Bech is a fictional character created by American author

John Updike John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short-story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once (the others being Booth ...

. Bech first appeared in assorted short stories, stories which were later compiled in the books ''Bech: A Book'' (1970), ''Bech Is Back'' (1982), and ''Bech at Bay'' (1998). These books were all later collected in ''The Complete Henry Bech'' (2001),"John Updike: 1932-2009," ''San Francisco Chronicle'' online
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/ref> which also included the short story ''His Oeuvre'' (2000). Updike's Bech is considered an antihero, and Updike's alter-ego. While Updike generally concerns himself with WASP culture, is married, and is prolific, Bech is apathetically Jewish, a bachelor (later a husband and stepfather for a time, and finally a father in old age), and unprolific. In the introduction to his first collection, the eponymous author speculates he is modeled in part after many other famous writers, including

Norman Mailer Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, activist, filmmaker and actor. In a career spanning over six decades, Mailer ...

, Bernard Malamud, J.D. Salinger and Updike himself.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bech, Henry Fictional writers