The Ghost Writer must be initially examined from the context of the Bildungsroman because Roth has so deliberately placed it in this context. After focusing on the novel as a work of fiction within a clearly defined tradition, then the critic can look to the narrative for parallels to the author's life and insights into his growth and development. In comparing the novel with its predecessors we can not only evaluate its departures from that tradition but also assess Roth's implications about the viability of this form in late twentieth-century fiction…. Roth's late twentieth-century Bildungsroman protagonist typically searches for a father and simultaneously flees both a father and all the suitable father substitutes, a fashion that bears the mark of the late twentieth-century fragmentation which has eroded family ties and given rise to homelessness. Thus in a pattern that is repeated throughout The Ghost Writer, the tradition of the Bildungsroman is both utilized and corrupted, adopted and rejected. (pp. 88-9)
[The] neglect of Nathan's childhood in The Ghost Writer may initially appear inconsistent in a Bildungsroman, for, aside from short reminiscences of family Sundays, the place where he copped his first feel, the sting of a mother's slap, and the memory of a father relegated to "Doc" in the neighborhood because he was a podiatrist and not a physician, Nathan spends little time reflecting on his childhood. Yet the other central concerns of the Bildungsroman are very much the stuff of which The Ghost Writer is made—provinciality, alienation, the larger society, ordeal by love, and the search for a vocation and a working philosophy. Even, however, when Roth's themes are traditional, his treatment can be personal and idiosyncratic, and herein lie the vitality and viability of the form which lends itself to adaptation and hence to different cultural contexts.
This is a free excerpt of 298 words. There are 2,500 words (approx.
8 pages at 300 words per page) in the full critical essay.
Read the rest of this Criticism with our Roth, Philip (Milton) 1933–: Critical Essay by W. Clark Hendley Access Pass.
