John Updike encapsulates much of a lifetime in “My Father’s Tears,” one of his final works of fiction in The New Yorker. A college courtship, a marriage, and a fifty-fifth high-school reunion all figure in the story, whose rich, economical descriptions capture the emotional experience of each stage. The protagonist, Jim Werley, the son of a teacher, recalls not only his own father but the father of his first wife, a man for whom he feels tenderness and respect, even as he is haunted by a sense of regret.

Published in 2006, “My Father’s Tears” is infused with details that match elements from the real life of Updike’s own dad. The story is elegiac and moving. “It is easy to love people in memory,” Werley observes. “The hard trick is to love them when they are there, in front of you.”