Nice! Yeah, you should continue with the Prague Orgy and The Counterlife, the latter of which will give you ample time to compare Zuckerman writing about himself and writing about others. It's an astounding piece of work, Roth operating on all cylinders.
― Bathtime at the Apollo (G00blar), Monday, 18 May 2009 20:03 (4 years ago) Permalink
(And what was with the ten pages out of nowhere on Plimpton?)
I'm assuming Roth wrote them from the heart.
― Eazy, Monday, 18 May 2009 20:19 (4 years ago) Permalink
I recently ploughed through Operation Shylock and am nearing the end of The Counterlife. Both books feature extended sequences in Israel that start off plausibly enough, before descending to a greater or lesser extent into something less like farce and more like an extended Jewish in-joke. My question is: what is the goyische reader supposed to take from these bits?
― Ismael Klata, Friday, 16 October 2009 13:58 (3 years ago) Permalink
I enjoyed this Roth interview in today's Times. It doesn't go into great depth, but I liked the bits about his method.
He seems agreeably free of pretension, interested above all in good stories - which makes my question more of a puzzle to me, really. I love nabisco's story upthread about the mother in The Plot Against America, it's a little hard to reconcile that with the in-jokes and self-referencey bits that have plagues the ones I've read recently.
― Ismael Klata, Saturday, 17 October 2009 12:18 (3 years ago) Permalink
"If you read a novel in more than two weeks you don't read the novel really."http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/oct/26/philip-roth-novel-minority-cult
discuss
― peter falk's panther burns (schlump), Thursday, 12 November 2009 17:52 (3 years ago) Permalink
Oi! My question first.
― Ismael Klata, Thursday, 12 November 2009 17:56 (3 years ago) Permalink
i read the human stain in under 2 weeks because i wanted it to be over
― harbl, Thursday, 12 November 2009 17:56 (3 years ago) Permalink
whats ur opinion of the assfucking scene in the humbling
― johnny crunch, Saturday, 10 April 2010 23:35 (3 years ago) Permalink
just read the humbling ... not very good? i dunno, the beginning had potential, but the relationship with Pegeen was uhhhh. And I've liked these last few shorter novels, Indignation, Exit Ghost, Everyman, etc. But this one just seemed pointless.
― tylerw, Sunday, 11 April 2010 01:30 (3 years ago) Permalink
what do we think of The Ghost Writer? Just finished. Not sure I want any more Zuckerman.
― quincie, Sunday, 11 April 2010 02:20 (3 years ago) Permalink
if i pick up patrimony as something to just zip through on autopilot will i enjoy it? i heard good things a while ago and my interest is piqued, never having read any of his autobio stuff, and despite having a few of the bigger novels still waiting (eg Sabbath's)
― devoted to boats (schlump), Wednesday, 22 June 2011 13:31 (1 year ago) Permalink
Patrimony is better than many of his novels.
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 22 June 2011 13:35 (1 year ago) Permalink
I'm trying to think if I've read any better delineations of the father-son relationship.
i wonder if i might've read you enthusing about it here before. it's been a while since i've read one of the novels, really, so am ready for something. thanks for the rec.
― devoted to boats (schlump), Wednesday, 22 June 2011 13:45 (1 year ago) Permalink
I'm sure I have!
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 22 June 2011 13:54 (1 year ago) Permalink
Just finished I Married a Communist, and American Pastoral before that. And of course I'll go ahead and read Human Stain next, just to finish up the trio. I actually really enjoyed Communist, even though it garners no mention in this thread other than g00blar saying it's the worst of the Zuckermans!
― Mad God 40/40 (Z S), Wednesday, 9 May 2012 17:16 (1 year ago) Permalink
I Married A Communist includes a reference to two gangsters named Big Pussy and Little Pussy, a year before The Sopranos began.
― caro's johnson (Eazy), Thursday, 10 May 2012 16:10 (1 year ago) Permalink
i used to feel like american pastoral was the best book i ever read. now i rate a couple things above it, but it's still in my top 5 of all time.
― Mordy, Thursday, 10 May 2012 19:30 (1 year ago) Permalink
I've twice tried I Married A Communist and given up in boredom within fifty pages or so. It's very odd, I've never remotely had that problem with any of his other stuff.
― Ismael Klata, Thursday, 10 May 2012 19:42 (1 year ago) Permalink
I love I Married a Communist. No way the worst of the Zuckermans. Better than The Human Stain, The Anatomy Lesson and The Prague Orgy for starters. Maybe it's just because I'm fascinated by the Red Scare but I couldn't see why it was so disliked.
Recently read Nemesis, which I adored - his best since American Pastoral imo. Would rather read about wartime New Jersey than horny old writers any day.
Re: Ismael's 2009 question, my Jewish grandfather lived in Israel and I've been there a couple of times so the themes in The Counterlife resonated with me even though it's mostly huge chunks of debate crowbarred into the mouths of thinly drawn characters. What really struck (and depressed) me was how little the debate has changed since he wrote it.
― Get wolves (DL), Thursday, 10 May 2012 20:08 (1 year ago) Permalink
One for Barthes, Alfred and anyone else who's down on authorial intent.
My interlocutor was told by the “English Wikipedia Administrator”—in a letter dated August 25th and addressed to my interlocutor—that I, Roth, was not a credible source: “I understand your point that the author is the greatest authority on their own work,” writes the Wikipedia Administrator—“but we require secondary sources.”
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/09/an-open-letter-to-wikipedia.html
― Get wolves (DL), Friday, 7 September 2012 17:03 (8 months ago) Permalink
Damn.
― Mr. Que, Friday, 7 September 2012 17:06 (8 months ago) Permalink
If you haven't read the Human Stain Roth's letter contains a shitload of spoilers BTW. Fascinating if you have though - I always thought the "spooks" misunderstanding was a weak premise - I didn't realise it was true.
― Get wolves (DL), Friday, 7 September 2012 17:17 (8 months ago) Permalink
Comments1 comment |
PHILIP! GET OUT OF THE HOUSE MORE! YOU'VE BEEN ISOLATED IN THE COUNTRY FOR TOO LONG!!!! GO GET LAID!!!!Posted 9/7/2012, 1:04:00pm by comancheria
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 7 September 2012 17:31 (8 months ago) Permalink
Good to read something new from Roth. He was at a pace of a novella per year in the late 2000s. I was wondering if he was still writing.
― Earth, Wind & Fire & Alabama (Eazy), Friday, 7 September 2012 18:17 (8 months ago) Permalink
There's been a response:
http://quominus.org/archives/979
http://quominus.org/archives/981
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 16 September 2012 20:42 (8 months ago) Permalink
― Earth, Wind & Fire & Alabama (Eazy), Friday, September 7, 2012 7:17 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
???
― just sayin, Sunday, 16 September 2012 21:01 (8 months ago) Permalink
does gooblar still post under some name? i saw his book in the library
― thomp, Sunday, 16 September 2012 21:26 (8 months ago) Permalink
What book's this? Would read.
― Ismael Klata, Sunday, 16 September 2012 21:29 (8 months ago) Permalink
g00blar, d4v1d. the major phases of philip roth (london: continuum, 2011)
― thomp, Sunday, 16 September 2012 21:40 (8 months ago) Permalink
It'd better answer my 2009 question.
― Ismael Klata, Sunday, 16 September 2012 21:45 (8 months ago) Permalink
― harbl, Thursday, 12 November 2009 17:56 (2 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
wtf
― Blue Collar Retail Assistant (Dwight Yorke), Thursday, 4 October 2012 13:12 (7 months ago) Permalink
ruh roh
http://www.salon.com/2012/11/09/philip_roth_im_done/
Philip Roth is calling it a career.In an interview with a French publication called Les inRocks last month — which does not appear to have been reported in the United States — Roth, 78, said he has not written anything new in the last three years, and that he will not write another novel.“To tell you the truth, I’m done,” Roth told the magazine, in the most definitive statement he has ever made about his future plans. “‘Nemesis’ will be my last book.”(The interview is published in French; we used an Internet program to translate his quotes into English. We asked his publisher, Houghton Mifflin, for confirmation. They reached out to Roth this morning. “He said it was true,” said Lori Glazer, vice president and executive director of publicity.)Roth said that at 74, realizing he was running out of years, he reread all his favorite novels, and then reread all his books in reverse chronological order. “I wanted to see if I had wasted my time writing,” he said. “And I thought it was rather successful. At the end of his life, the boxer Joe Louis said: “I did the best I could with what I had.” This is exactly what I would say of my work: I did the best I could with what I had.“And after that, I decided that I was done with fiction. I do not want to read, to write more,” he said. “I have dedicated my life to the novel: I studied, I taught, I wrote and I read. With the exclusion of almost everything else. Enough is enough! I no longer feel this fanaticism to write that I have experienced in my life.”
In an interview with a French publication called Les inRocks last month — which does not appear to have been reported in the United States — Roth, 78, said he has not written anything new in the last three years, and that he will not write another novel.
“To tell you the truth, I’m done,” Roth told the magazine, in the most definitive statement he has ever made about his future plans. “‘Nemesis’ will be my last book.”
(The interview is published in French; we used an Internet program to translate his quotes into English. We asked his publisher, Houghton Mifflin, for confirmation. They reached out to Roth this morning. “He said it was true,” said Lori Glazer, vice president and executive director of publicity.)
Roth said that at 74, realizing he was running out of years, he reread all his favorite novels, and then reread all his books in reverse chronological order. “I wanted to see if I had wasted my time writing,” he said. “And I thought it was rather successful. At the end of his life, the boxer Joe Louis said: “I did the best I could with what I had.” This is exactly what I would say of my work: I did the best I could with what I had.
“And after that, I decided that I was done with fiction. I do not want to read, to write more,” he said. “I have dedicated my life to the novel: I studied, I taught, I wrote and I read. With the exclusion of almost everything else. Enough is enough! I no longer feel this fanaticism to write that I have experienced in my life.”
― but the boo boyz are getting to (Z S), Friday, 9 November 2012 17:42 (6 months ago) Permalink
as much as it it's a shame, cause a weaker Roth is still better than most writers, i don't think he can reinvent himself again to write a really great book. especially due to the fact that there is some truth to the claim that he writes the same novel again and again.
― nostormo, Friday, 9 November 2012 18:35 (6 months ago) Permalink
I have very little time for Roth's writing but I really respect this as an artistic decision (and not just because fewer new roth books might mean fewer longfrm pieces about how Important he is).
― of course you end up shazaming yourself (c sharp major), Friday, 9 November 2012 18:39 (6 months ago) Permalink
I have never objected when an artist announces retirement: it takes courage.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 9 November 2012 18:41 (6 months ago) Permalink
p.s this things should be taken with a grain of salt of course.a person who wrote all his life, and books WERE his life, might say one thing, and do something else..
― nostormo, Friday, 9 November 2012 18:41 (6 months ago) Permalink
If true, I'm glad he bowed out with Nemesis rather than The Humbling.
― Deafening silence (DL), Friday, 9 November 2012 18:43 (6 months ago) Permalink
if true, does it mean he definitely wont win the nobel prize now?
― nostormo, Friday, 9 November 2012 18:45 (6 months ago) Permalink
Well, I doubt the Nobel committee would have The Humbling and Exit Ghost in mind when honoring him.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 9 November 2012 18:51 (6 months ago) Permalink
I had a little think about the most fitting way to pour one out, then decided it's probably best not to bother.
― Ismael Klata, Friday, 9 November 2012 18:54 (6 months ago) Permalink
exit ghost is radthis is like justin timberlake all over again
― absurdly pro-D (schlump), Friday, 9 November 2012 18:54 (6 months ago) Permalink
lol ismael
i really hope he circumvents this by just writing loads of non-fiction shit instead
― absurdly pro-D (schlump), Friday, 9 November 2012 18:55 (6 months ago) Permalink
as long as he wont "circumvents this by just writing loads of non-fiction shit instead"
― nostormo, Friday, 9 November 2012 18:59 (6 months ago) Permalink
an Autobiography would be nice though!
― nostormo, Friday, 9 November 2012 19:00 (6 months ago) Permalink
I wouldn't mind another Patrimony. Does he have another dying relative he can write about?
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 9 November 2012 19:01 (6 months ago) Permalink
himself?
― nostormo, Friday, 9 November 2012 19:01 (6 months ago) Permalink
too bad he already used the title The Dying Animal.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 9 November 2012 19:05 (6 months ago) Permalink
One of my favorite second winds. Still, what is the point of retiring publicly? Just don't write something. And then if you write something, no big deal.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 9 November 2012 19:37 (6 months ago) Permalink
i guess it's so that everyone will leave you alone for a while
― but the boo boyz are getting to (Z S), Friday, 9 November 2012 19:45 (6 months ago) Permalink