Updike managed to grab and hold the national spotlight with the publication of Rabbit Is Rich in 1981 and The Witches of Eastwick in 1984. Viewed in hindsight, however, his work between 1981 and 1985 was prelude to what was arguably the most important five-year period in his life as a creative writer. In this period he completed his Scarlet Letter trilogy, released a collection of short stories that reinforced his reputation as one of the most skilled practitioners in that genre, and published a self-deprecating memoir that sparked lively commentary. The appearance of Rabbit at Rest in 1990 garnered for him a second Pulitzer Prize, linking him with Booth Tarkington and William Faulkner as the only novelists so honored.

And yet, some critics continued to belittle and disparage Updike's work. Charges that his sumptuous prose overwhelmed his slight subject matter and complaints that he was too concerned about matters of religion persisted in some circles, as did charges that his portrayal of women was misogynistic. Curiously, though, the writer once accused of being too solidly planted in the liberals' camp was now charged with strident conservatism, accused of letting his visceral love for country blind him to America's failings.