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Philip Roth

フィリップ・ロス

Philip Roth

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1933-03-19 （Newark, New Jersey, U.S.）
Died
2018-05-22 （New York City, U.S.） age 85
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Religion
Atheism / Non-religious
Residence History
Newark, New Jersey → Manhattan, New York City → Annandale-on-Hudson, New York (near Bard College)

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Short story writer, Essayist, University teacher
Active Years
1959-2010
Affiliations
University of Pennsylvania (taught comparative literature)
Memberships
Philip Roth Society
Influenced By
Franz Kafka, Henry James, Joseph Conrad, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Saul Bellow
Influenced
Jonathan Safran Foer, Jonathan Lethem, Numerous contemporary American novelists

Education

Bucknell University
Degree: BA
Country: United States
Graduated magna cum laude in English; elected to Phi Beta Kappa
University of Chicago
English literature
Degree: MA
Period: 1954–1956 (在籍／研究期間は短期間のことがあった)
Year of Graduation: 1955
Country: United States
Received MA in English literature in 1955; briefly instructed in the university's writing program and later dropped out of a PhD term.

Awards

National Book Award (Fiction)
1960
Work: Goodbye, Columbus
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: 受賞
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
1998
Work: American Pastoral
Organization: Pulitzer Prize Board
Result: 受賞
PEN/Faulkner Award
1994
Work: Operation Shylock
Organization: PEN/Faulkner Foundation
Result: 受賞
PEN/Faulkner Award
2001
Work: The Human Stain
Organization: PEN/Faulkner Foundation
Result: 受賞
PEN/Faulkner Award
2007
Work: Everyman
Organization: PEN/Faulkner Foundation
Result: 受賞
Franz Kafka Prize
2001
Organization: Franz Kafka Prize (Prague)
Result: 受賞
Man Booker International Prize (lifetime achievement)
2011
Organization: Man Booker Prize Foundation
Result: 受賞
National Humanities Medal
2010
Organization: National Endowment for the Humanities / White House
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Goodbye, Columbus

1959 Short story collection/Novella

A debut volume containing the novella 'Goodbye, Columbus' and four short stories, portraying middle-class Jewish American life with humor and sharpness.

Jewish identityCultural assimilationClass consciousness
Adaptations
  • [Film] Goodbye, Columbus (film) / Larry Peerce (1969)
Translations
  • Goodbye, Columbus

Portnoy's Complaint

1969 Novel (black comedy / autobiographical elements)

A confessional novel that provocatively depicts sexual desire, Jewish identity struggles, and selfhood in a style that sparked controversy on publication.

SexualityGuiltBlurring of self and fiction
Translations
  • Portnoy's Complaint

Sabbath's Theater

1995 Novel (satire / black comedy)

Through the disgraced former puppeteer Mickey Sabbath, the novel candidly and humorously explores desire, aging, and ethics. Winner of the 1995 National Book Award.

DesireAgingMoral decadence
Translations
  • Sabbath's Theater

American Pastoral

1997 Novel (literary fiction; part of American Trilogy)

Following Swede Levov, a successful businessman from New Jersey, the novel examines the tragedy that befalls his family and the collapse of 1960s American ideals. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize.

Decline of the American DreamFamilyPolitical violence
Adaptations
  • [Film] American Pastoral (film) / Ewan McGregor (2016)
Translations
  • American Pastoral

The Human Stain

2000 Novel (identity / social commentary)

Through the revelation of classics professor Coleman Silk's past and secret, the novel explores identity politics and prejudice in American society. It was adapted into a film.

IdentityRace and passingShame and honor
Adaptations
  • [Film] The Human Stain (film) / Robert Benton (2003)
Translations
  • The Human Stain

The Plot Against America

2004 Novel (alternate history)

An alternate history imagining Charles Lindbergh as U.S. President in 1940 and an accommodation with Nazi Germany, exploring the effects of anti-Semitism and fear on families and communities.

Alternate historyAnti-SemitismFragility of democracy
Adaptations
  • [Television (miniseries)] The Plot Against America (HBO miniseries) (2020)
Translations
  • The Plot Against America

Bibliography

  • Goodbye, Columbus and Five Short Stories
  • Letting Go
  • Portnoy's Complaint
  • The Ghost Writer
  • The Counterlife
  • American Pastoral
  • The Human Stain
  • The Plot Against America
  • Everyman
  • Nemesis

Adaptations

  • Goodbye, Columbus film adaptation (1969)
  • The Human Stain film adaptation (2003)
  • Elegy (adaptation of The Dying Animal, 2008)
  • Indignation film (2016)
  • American Pastoral film (2016)
  • The Plot Against America HBO miniseries (2020)

Translations of Works

  • Portnoy's Complaint — Japanese translation
  • American Pastoral — Japanese translation

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Strongly autobiographical realistic styleProvocative, direct narrative voiceMetafictional techniques that blur fact and fiction
Recurring Motifs
Jewish identity and assimilationSexual desire and guiltAging, mortality, illnessDisillusionment with the American Dream

Health

  • Post-operative nervous breakdown / severe depression
    1980s（術後）
    Contributed to episodes of breakdown that influenced themes of fragmentation and identity in some works
  • Temporary side effects from Halcion (triazolam)
    1980s（処方期間）
    Experienced temporary mental side effects that affected his writing and creative process
  • Heart failure (cause of death)
    2018（死去時）
    Died of heart failure in 2018

Legacy

Philip Roth is regarded as one of the leading American writers from the late 20th to early 21st century. Renowned for his probing and provocative explorations of Jewishness, selfhood, and American memory, he won numerous major literary awards though never the Nobel Prize. His personal library and papers are important resources for scholarship.

Museums

  • Philip Roth Personal Library (held at Newark Public Library) Newark Public Library, Newark, New Jersey, U.S. Opened in 2021

Academic Societies

  • Philip Roth Society

Archives

  • University of Chicago Special Collections (early materials)
  • Princeton University Firestone Library (deposited manuscripts)

In Popular Culture

  • His works have been adapted into films and television, including an HBO miniseries.

Quotes

  • When the whole world doesn't believe in God, it'll be a great place.
    Source: Interview / quotation collections (2011)
  • Reading a novel requires a certain amount of concentration, focus, devotion to the reading. I thought within 25 years reading novels would be regarded as a 'cultic' activity.
    Source: Interviews (The Guardian / The Daily Beast, etc.) (2009)

Trivia

  • Left his book collection and over $2 million to the Newark Public Library.
  • Banned religious rituals at his funeral, though a visitation stone was later placed in Jewish tradition.
  • The only person to win the PEN/Faulkner Award three times.
  • Won many major prizes during his life but never the Nobel Prize in Literature.