Last Remaining Novelist Dies In Captivity

COLUMBUS, OH—Cultural zoologists are mourning the extinction of a species following Monday’s passing of novelist John Updike. The last living novelist, Updike died in his cage at the Columbus Zoo. “We will greatly miss Mr. Updike, to whom many of our trainers and feeders grew very attached,” zoo director Cheryl Berner said. “Columbus Zoo visitors of all ages loved to watch him hunch over his typewriter, furiously pressing the little keys.” Berner said the zoo had tried for several years to mate Updike—known for his long fictional books called “novels” (KNAW-vuls)—with female ad-copy writers, cartoonists and screenwriters, but were unsuccessful. “At one point, we tried to procure a sperm sample from Mr. Updike to inseminate People magazine managing editor Jane Lowery, but he became enraged and violent when approached,” Berner said.