8 essential Philip Roth reads
A prolific novelist, American author Philip Roth, who died aged 85, wrote over 30 works of fiction along with numerous essays. Here is a selection of some of his most acclaimed titles.
Goodbye, Columbus, 1959
Philip Roth's first book, Goodbye, Columbus, included the title novella and five short stories. The latter depicted how second and third-generation American Jews left ethnic ghettos to become middle-class suburban professionals. His unflattering portrayal of Jewish characters was controversial, yet the book won the 1960 National Book Award, establishing Roth's name as a promising new writer.
Portnoy's Complaint, 1969
This 1969 novel sparked even more controversy. Along with its irreverent exploration of Jewish identity, it featured explicit depictions of masturbation. The central character, Alexander Portnoy, "a lust-ridden, mother-addicted young Jewish bachelor," reveals his most intimate thoughts to his psychoanalyst in a continuous monologue. It was a major success and turned Roth into a literary star.
The Counterlife, 1986
An alter ego of the author, the fictional character Nathan Zuckerman turned up in many Roth books. An early version of the character already appeared in My Life as a Man (1974), but Zuckerman was the main protagonist in Roth's 1979 work, The Ghost Writer. The novel The Counterlife also features Zuckerman and reflects on how a writer works while exploring the fragmentation of human lives.
Sabbath's Theater, 1995
With this work centering on a former puppeteer who proudly embodies the prototype of a "dirty old man," Roth won his second National Book Award for Fiction. The author named this novel as one of his favorite works. "I think it's got a lot of freedom in it," he once said of the book.
American Pastoral, 1997
Roth's alter ego Nathan Zuckermann hears the tragic story of a former schoolmate at a high school reunion; that leads the writer to revisit the story of Swede Levov, a successful Jewish man whose life was ruined by the social and political upheaval of the 1960s and the Vietnam War. It won the Pulitzer Prize, and firmly established Roth as a chronicler of American political life.
The Human Stain, 2000
Another best-seller that won numerous awards, The Human Stain also features the novelist Zuckerman who looks into the complex life of a former university professor who has "passed" as a Jew for years — but who's actually an African American who is socially excommunicated when this fact is revealed. The work was adapted into a movie in 2003 that starred Anthony Hopkins and Nicole Kidman.
The Plot Against America, 2004
In this work, Roth revisits American politics and society through alternative history, allowing the anti-Semitic aviation hero Charles Lindbergh to defeat Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1940 presidential election. Lindbergh sides with Hitler during World War II. The political novel is "sinister, vivid, dreamlike, preposterous and, at the same time, creepily plausible," wrote The New York Times.
Nemesis, 2010
Roth's 31st and last book tells the story of a teacher who lives through a polio epidemic in New Jersey in the 1940s. After writing it, the author retired, officially announcing in 2012 that he was "done with fiction." With a career spanning over six decades, he has been often described as "the greatest novelist of our time." The Nobel Prize for literature eluded him, however.