Who's Next To Croak?

Started by cine, September 28, 2003, 11:07:39 AM

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wilberfan


Drenk

Ascension.

Alethia

Fuck. That's a hard one. By far my all-time favorite novelist. Looks like it's going to be a Roth: Revisited kind of summer.

Drenk

Quote from: eward on May 23, 2018, 03:09:05 PM
Fuck. That's a hard one. By far my all-time favorite novelist. Looks like it's going to be a Roth: Revisited kind of summer.

Do you have a favorite?

If I had to take three, it would be: Sabbath's Theater, Operation Shylock, The Human Stain. In that order. (The Counterlife is great, too.)

Ascension.

Alethia

Quote from: Drenk on May 23, 2018, 04:10:25 PM
Quote from: eward on May 23, 2018, 03:09:05 PM
Fuck. That's a hard one. By far my all-time favorite novelist. Looks like it's going to be a Roth: Revisited kind of summer.

Do you have a favorite?

If I had to take three, it would be: Sabbath's Theater, Operation Shylock, The Human Stain. In that order. (The Counterlife is great, too.)

The Human Stain was the first one I read - that and Portnoy's Complaint, which is a furious comic joy, back to back - so aside from its being a plainly excellent novel through and through it also has that brilliant shine of first discovery for me. But I think if I had to name an absolute FAVORITE it'd take the form of not one, not two, but THREE books, those that comprise the official Zuckerman trilogy: The Ghost Writer, Zuckerman Unbound, and The Anatomy Lesson.

But his greatest work is probably Sabbath's Theater.

Also love Everyman, The Professor of Desire, Goodbye Columbus, American Pastoral, Our Gang, The Dying Animal...

I, incredibly, have not yet read The Plot Against America - want to pick that up next but, given the way the world has gone these past 18 months, I now find the prospect a bit frightening.

Drenk

Oh, I haven't read The Plot Against America too, I always had a weird feeling about it, as if it were "fast food" after The Human Stain. But I will. Of course I will. I'm missing a few of them now: Our Gang, When She Was Good, etc.

Even if Letting Go isn't fully fleshed Roth I loved that book. There's everything in it.

And I often return to the letter by Zuckerman to Roth—yes, weird thing...—at the end of The Facts.
Ascension.

Fitzroy

I caught a two part BBC documentary about Roth a couple of years ago when he announced he was through with writing. I quickly found myself fascinated by him, and read as much as I could about him. Despite this, I haven't read any of his novels. I guess his oeuvre seemed intimidating to me; there was no clear point of entry.

So, now the man is gone - where should I start?


Drenk

Quote from: Fitzroy on June 02, 2018, 01:07:14 PM
I caught a two part BBC documentary about Roth a couple of years ago when he announced he was through with writing. I quickly found myself fascinated by him, and read as much as I could about him. Despite this, I haven't read any of his novels. I guess his oeuvre seemed intimidating to me; there was no clear point of entry.

So, now the man is gone - where should I start?

I missed this somehow. So...Difficult to say. Roth wrote many books, many different books, so I don't think there's a clear point of entry. I'd say Portnoy's Complaint—the book that made him extra-famous—isn't a good entry, though. Even if it's one of the good ones—it's just too much of a farce all the time (almost all the time) it can give a wrong first impression.

He wrote his best books at the end of the eighties and throughout the nineties.

American Pastoral is his most beloved book. It is a masterpiece. It is also weirdly tame and I wonder if that didn't help its reception. If Roth had only written American Pastoral you can be sure that he would be laying in his grave with a Nobel Prize. It introduces you to his main alter-ego, Nathan Zuckerman, when he became for Roth a way to narrate other people's lives. You're in 1997.

You can also begin with the first Zuckerman book: The Ghost Writer. In this one, Zuckerman is the main protagonist, he's a young writer and it begins to explore the tricks of fiction. You're in 1979.

The Ghost Writer has three sequels, but a Zuckerman books stands by itself after them: The Counterlife. As Roth said, it was the first time that he was fully integrating Zuckerman's intelligence inside the book. The Counterlife is full of meta-narratives—it explores the tricks of fiction, its purpose. Something that is at the heart of Roth. It might be a difficult entry but a rewarding one. You'd be in 1986.

Sabbath's Theater is my favorite Roth, it was written before American Pastoral: this one isn't tame at all. An avalanche of twisted sex is incorporated inside this book. Mickey Sabbath is not a nice man. But he's dealing with grief. And this is a book about death. It can be as funny as Portnoy's Complaint but is also the saddest book I've ever read. The writing is spectacular. The energy. It's unique. 1995.

Operation Shylock is so Roth the main character is Philip Roth chasing a false Philip Roth in Israel. Presented as a "confession" it is full of insanity. And fiction. It also confronts judaism, also an important theme of his work. And that's 1993.



Ascension.

Alethia

^^ Everything Drenk said. Also, see Listen Up Philip! Jonathan Pryce's character Ike Zimmerman is very much inspired by Roth.

jenkins

Koko died today, i feel emotional, respect xx


Alethia


Drenk

Ascension.

jenkins

that one time my friend for some reason waited until days after Robby Müller died to post on gram about him, throwing me off

Lottery

Shinobu Hashimoto

Screenwriter that worked on masterpieces such as Harakiri, The Seven Samurai, Rashomon and Ikiru.