Philip Roth Summary

Biography EssayIn 1973, Philip Roth wrote a satirical novel about baseball which he entitled The Great American Novel. The title refers to the parodies of a number of classic American novels in the ... Read more

In 1974, Philip Roth wrote a satirical novel about baseball which he entitled The Great American Novel. The title refers to the parodies of a number of classic American novels in the book, but it al... Read more

[This entry was updated by S. Lillian Kremer (Kansas State University) from her entry in DLB 173: American Novelists Since World War II, Fifth Series, pp. 202-234.]A major writer of twentieth-century ... Read more

In the following essay, Greenberg examines the theme of transgression in Philip Roth's work, contending that the author's techniques are uniquely reflective of his relationship with main... Read more

In the following essay, Milowitz examines Roth's treatment of the Holocaust in such works as The Professor of Desire, The Prague Orgy, Deception, Operation Shylock, and others. Why come to t... Read more

In the following essay, Royal argues that The Counterlife is Roth's most pivotal novel and marks the starting point for his exploration of a postmodern Jewish identity. Of all Philip Roth&#x... Read more

Critical Essay by Irving Malin ["I Always Wanted You to Admire My Fasting, or, Looking at Kafka"] is a masterful example of comedy. Roth uses cliché and fantasy, movies and spiri... Read more

Critical Essay by Mark Shechner Whatever else a story may do, its one indispensable element is the imagination's first premise: what if?… What if a petty clerk in Prague should awaken o... Read more

Critical Essay by Anatole Broyard "Zuckerman Unbound" is about a young Jewish novelist rather like Philip Roth who has just published a wildly successful book called "Carnovsky,&... Read more

Critical Essay by Tony Tanner [Zuckerman Unbound, avowedly a sequel to The Ghost Writer, is] in many ways a repetition which moves to a similar conclusion. It would seem that not only is Roth obsesse... Read more

Critical Essay by Richard Gilman [In Zuckerman Unbound Roth] doesn't do much with the novel's main theme, which is, or should be, what it's like to be famous. The book veers off ... Read more

Critical Essay by John N. Mcdaniel Philip Roth is a singular figure in recent American fiction: he is a social realist who adamantly refuses to withdraw from the field, even though he sees around him... Read more

Critical Essay by Sanford Pinsker Prometheus remains the quintessential rebel-hero, the mythological figure who defied Zeus, stole the secret of fire from Hephaestus, and gave it to mankind. For that... Read more

Critical Essay by Robert Kiely Philip Roth, recalling a visit to Prague in 1971, said he was struck by the contrasting situation of writers in a country that is not free and in the United States. Her... Read more

Critical Essay by Joseph Epstein There is, as the folks in the head trades might say, a lot of rage in Philip Roth. What, one wonders, is he so angry about? As a writer, he seems to have had a pretty... Read more

Critical Essay by John Mellors Zuckerman in The Anatomy Lesson is a pugnacious rebel and one can well imagine his railing at God and waving a banner saying 'Unfair to Zuckerman!'. Indee... Read more

Critical Essay by Judith Paterson Jones and Guinevera A. Nance Source: "Good Girls and Boys Gone Bad," in Philip Roth, Frederick Ungar Publishing Company, 1981, pp. 9-85. In the foll... Read more

Critical Essay by Jay L. Halio Source: "Nice Jewish Boys: The Comedy of Goodbye, Columbus and the Early Stories," in Philip Roth Revisited, Twayne Publishers, 1992, pp. 13-36. In the... Read more

Critical Review by Saul Bellow Source: "The Swamp of Prosperity," in Commentary, Vol. 28, No. 1, July 1959, pp. 77-9. In the following excerpted review of Goodbye, Columbus, Bellow a... Read more

Critical Essay by Joseph C. Landis Source: "The Sadness of Philip Roth: An Interim Report," in The Massachusetts Review, Vol. III, No. 2, Winter, 1962, pp. 259-68. In the excerpt bel... Read more

Critical Essay by Irving Howe Source: "Philip Roth Reconsidered," in Commentary, Vol. 54, No. 6, December, 1972, pp. 69-77. In his reconsideration of Goodbye, Columbus, Howe maintain... Read more