Updike's influence (on one man's bank account)

We all profited from having Updike among us, but few in such literal fashion as the writer Alain de Botton:

I'm more grateful to Updike than to any other writer in the world -- for he paid for my house. Back in 1997, he wrote a far too generous three page review of a book of mine on Proust in The New Yorker -- and single-handedly made my career in the United States (for a long time, I'd quip: 'How Updike can change your Life').

Botton's book was titled "How Proust can Change Your Life."

Botton's comments -- and he goes on to speak of literature -- are part of a special online feature from Granta, which also includes contributions from Garrison Keillor, Colm Toibin, Jane Smiley, Steven Pinker, Anne Fadiman, and others.

PS: I truncated that quote when I first posted. I've now included the whole thing.