In BECH: A BOOK, John Updike delineates a famous writer who, at early middle-age, has published his best work and now watches helplessly as "his reputation grows while his powers decline."

Bech's final cross, if we may, is his induction into the National Academy of Arts and Letters...a reminder that when we start collecting honors, our most productive work, whether personal or corporate, is usually wrapped in the folds of an unkind history.