In a 1991 conversation with Molly McQuade, Roth stated that during 1956-1958, "I had a little apartment across from Stagg Field. I worked until 11:30 every morning teaching three sections [at the University of Chicago], back to back, of freshman composition.

Then I'd hole up in the little apartment and write until I was written out, and then I'd mark papers with, I must say, the same ferocious energy I had for my writing. I was a very intense fellow. I saw my friends in the evenings. I was intense with them. Great fun, intensity, before it starts wearing you down."

Therein lies the method behind Operation Shylock: intensity. Certainly, the piece goes forward on the traditional techniques of narrative and (considerable) characters' reflections upon what they see, do, and think. But the level upon which they do so can only be described as intense. Public events and public materials...