Philip Roth Biography and Books

American Novelist, Famous for Portnoy's Complaint

Feb 25, 2009 Tel Asiado

Brief biography and works of American novelist Philip Roth.

American novelist Philip Roth is one of the leading satirists of modern American life. Although his bestseller is Portnoy's Complaint, his later novel, The Ghost Writer, is considered as his most artistic book.

Roth is also one of the major voices of Jewish-American literature of the past over 30 years. His greatest gifts are describing the details of ordinary life and producing great dialogue and satiric comic touches.

Early Life of Philip Roth

Philip Milton Roth was born on March 19, 1933 in Newark, New Jersey, the second-child of middle-class Jewish American parents. He had a suburban upbringing. The suburbs and its people have served as a subject for many of his novels, which he began writing after graduating from the University of Chicago. Prior, he attended Bucknell University, earning a degree in English. He then continued graduate studies at the University of Chicago, receiving masters in English literature.

He briefly worked as an instructor in the University of Chicago's writing program and taught creative writing at Princeton University and University of Iowa. Later, he taught comparative literature at the University of Pennsylvania. He retired from teaching in 1991.

Roth the Author

Philip Roth's protagonists are well-educated, male, and almost always Jewish. He gained literary fame at the age of 26 when he published his first book, a collection of short stories called Goodbye, Columbus. In this collection which won him the 1960 National Book Award, he often wrote negatively, about the habits of suburban Jewish life and traditions. Many critics praised his work of satire, at the same time, many readers were offended by what they saw as criticism of the Jewish community.

His next novels, Letting Go and When She Was Good, gained attention but not as much controversy. In 1969, when he was 36, Roth produced a bestseller, Portnoy's Complaint, about a young man trying to escape the guilt of his youth and his domineering mother.

Roth's most artistically successful novel is The Ghost Writer, the first of a series of novels featuring a writer named Nathan Zuckerman, Roth's featured alter ego. The Zuckerman novels include the Pulitzer Prize-winning American Pastoral. Some of Zuckerman's experiences mirror Roth's own life, including coming up against censorship.

Awards and Honors

As one of the most celebrated living American writers, Philip Roth have won many honors and awards, including the National Book Award for his works of fiction, National Book Critics Circle awards, multiple PEN/Faulkner and a Pulitzer for American Pastoral.

Books by Philip Roth

• Goodbye, Columbus, 1959
• Letting Go, 1962
• When She Was Good, 1967
• Portnoy's Complaint, 1969
• The Breast, 1972
• The Professor of Desire, 1977
• The Ghost Writer, 1979
• Zuckerman Unbound, 1981
• The Anatomy Lesson, 1983
• The Counterlife, 1986
• Patrimony, 1991
• Operation Shylock, 1993
• Sabbath's Theater, 1995
• American Pastoral, 1997
• I married a Communist, 1998

Sources:

Goring, Rosemary, editor. Larousse Dictionary of Writers. New York: Larousse, 1994

McGovern, Una, editor. Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap, 2002

Payne, Tom. The A-Z of Great Writers. Carlton Books Limited, 1997

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Philip Roth, American Novelist