Hello
Gentle Reader
When
someone dies it generally removes any veil of prejudice one held of them beforehand.
Death is the ultimate leveler of the playing field. I’ve made no qualm or
secret about general distaste for Philip Roth’s novels, which I found
self-absorbed, suffocating, and in the later years carrying a certain
authoritarian arrogance. This had often put me off in reading his novels, which
always struck me as repetitive and suffocating preoccupied with their own narcissistic
themes and plots. In his later years, it was a poorly hidden secret, how Roth
viciously craved and vied to be recognized as a great of American literature—and
by extension international literature—by coveting the Nobel Prize for
Literature. Philip Roth, however, was doomed to forever be the Nobel bridesmaid,
never the actual laureate. This point of contention infuriated his supporters,
American literary critics, and even (it is rumored) the author himself. Yet,
yesterday at the age of eighty-five, Philip Roth died due to congestive heart
failure; where he was surrounded by friends. With his passing, it is difficult
not to take note and stock of Philip Roth’s success as a writer, and his
undying and unyielding influence on American literature cannot be ignored or
denied. Roth’s stellar career began in nineteen-fifteen nine, when he published
his first short story collection: “Goodbye Columbus,” which would set the stage
for one of the most endeared and controversial writers of late American twentieth
century literature. The novel won the National Book Critics Award, and it
tackled ideas of assimilation and differentiation in suburbia through the eyes
of middle-class Jewish Americans, who struggle with their identity and
morality, and concepts of ‘Jewishness.’ Beyond being hailed as a major voice of
an up and coming writer, it also received backlash from others who called Roth
a ‘Self-Hating Jew,’ and the work antisemitic. Ten years later he released his
smash hit comic and erotic monologue “Portnoy’s Complaint,” about the erotic
release of the titular character and being held back by his Jewish upbringing. The
stellar acclaim and the media scrutiny forced Roth to retreat further into
literary fiction and become as some would call: reclusive and aloof, in order
to evade and dodge any media scrutiny made against him.
After
becoming a scandalous literary celebrity, Roth began to write the works of
fiction which would cement his name as a great modern American writer. His later
works depict the lives of Nathan Zuckerman and David Kepesh, which allowed Roth
to trace the line between author and his work. However, many found these works autobiographical
and confessional in nature, which annoyed and disappointed Roth, who continually
refuted these claims, and asserted his novels were imaginary and purely
fiction, there were no shadows or parallels to his work as being
autobiographical or confessional in nature.
In
the nineties, Philip Roth once again reinvented his literary imaginings. After a
series of personal collapses and marital failure, Roth resigned himself to a
farm house in Connecticut, and teaching, and the works he began to draft from
there took another distinct directional turn. Moving away from the
introspection of Nathan Zuckerman and David Kepesh; these later works were
externally focused and discussed American cultural blunders, the Vietnam War,
McCarthyism, as well as the dangers of fascism; and how these external factors
enter the private and personal homes of bystanders who are unexpected and ill
prepared for the sudden instruction be it ideological or cultural in nature.
In
two-thousand and twelve, Philip Roth announced he was retiring from writing,
making “Nemesis,” (2010) his final novel. Throughout the years Philip Roth gave
a few interviews, but never wrote another novel or story (at least none
published). He caused minor controversies here and there (the final one being
the Man Booker International Prize, in its former format) and his name
repeatedly as a contender for the Nobel Prize for Literature. In the end he did
not win the Nobel; but reviewing a varied and lengthy career, it can be seen
Philip Roth had written some of the well-achieved books of the later part of
the twentieth century American literature. He moved from erotic liberator (or
perhaps retained these provocative predilections), to a introspective chronicler
and historian of American ideologies and cultures, and how these external
factors affect the private and personal. In the end, you just have to tip your
hat Philip Roth, and say: well done.
Rest
in Peace, Philip Roth. It is well deserved.
Thank-you
For Reading Gentle Reader
Take
Care
And
As Always
Stay
Well Read
M.
Mary
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