Philip Roth news stories on Newser

Philip Roth Wins Man Booker Prize

Polly Davis Doig — Wed, 18 May 2011 09:38:52 CDT

Philip Roth, the Pulitzer Prize-winning American author of the 1960s cultural touchstone Portnoy's Complaint and more than two dozen other novels, was named today as the winner of the Man Booker International Prize for fiction. Roth beat 12 other short-listed authors—including Britain's John le Carre, Australia's David Malouf, and...

Why Writing About Sex Is So Hard

Jen Paton — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:46:32 CST

Our most august contemporary writers fumble virginally when it comes to writing about sex, and the BBC can't help but wonder why. After all, there have been plenty of renowned writers in the running for Literary Review 's annual award for the best bad sex writing: Nominee Philip Roth penned...

Young Jewish Writers Cool With Being Jewish

Erika Solomon — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 12:58:35 CDT

America’s young Jewish writers are “turning the narrative of assimilation on its head,” writes Daniel Sax in Vanity Fair , and hitting the best-seller list in the process. Unlike Philip Roth and Saul Bellow, who angrily “wrote from experiences directly connected to the traumas of immigration and the Holocaust,” Jonathan Safran...

Roth's Latest Doesn't Measure Up

Lev Weinstein — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:11:37 CDT

Unlike the emotionally twisted and tortured heroes of Philip Roth's finer works, the dead 19-year-old narrator of Indignation is an uncomplicated soul—and the novel suffers because of its milquetoast protagonist, writes Michiko Kakutani in the New York Times . "All of Marcus' unrelieved niceness makes for a somewhat pallid narrative,...

Politics More Than Plot Twist for Roth

Ambreen Ali — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 18:21:36 CST

Never afraid to find narrative fodder in real life, Philip Roth used the 2004 presidential elections as backdrop for his latest novel, Exit Ghost . The Pulitzer winner expounded on his politics in a lengthy interview with Der Spiegel , admitting he's a fan of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and calling...

NYT 's Top Reads for 2007

Caroline Zimmerman — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 17:17:38 CST

Recent write-ups say Americans should read more—but where to start? Try the New York Times ' 100 notable books of 2007, ranging from fiction to poetry, essays to bios. Among the acclaimed page-turners: Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal , Ben Macintyre The Art of...