Philip Roth: The Ghost Writer

[promtbr]

Where we can find an example of post modern inter-textual strategies as a common device used in the reviews found in the World Lit Blog, Traces is in the review of the Philip Roth/Nathan Zuckerman novel, The Ghost Writer. The reviewer (in his embedded textual self) explores the understanding of digital identity through impersonation of a reviewer for Traces, a Journal of windsweptfiction:

Ghost Written?.
The problem I have with Philip Roth, the next writer on our pre-2009 Nobel review agenda is which of the 15 or so critically acclaimed books of his to review? He has won 20+ literary awards and 11 of his novels have won specific awards.
The Ghost Writer was suggested to me as the next novel to read after his gem of a first novella, Goodbye Columbus. TGW is the first novel of the Zuckerman Bound Collection - which also includes Zuckerman Unbound, The Anatomy Lesson and The Prague Orgy - sharing the alter ego Jewish American writer, Nathan Zuckerman as the narrator.
Viscera
In the first of the novel?s four sections, entitled Maestro, Nathan Zuckerman narrates his own Portrait of the Artist as a Young man as he reflects back 20 some years in time to the opening setting when as a new literary light he meets his saint, EL Lonoff, after receiving an invitation to the reclusive old writer?s Berkshire farmhouse. The model for Lonoff is reportedly Bernard Malamud, whom Roth met on several occasions and was an avowed admirer of. The master and (hopeful) apprentice carefully sound each other out, one with not much at stake other than a wasted evening, the other with his whole life?s calling hanging on every word. The exchange between the two is Jamesian. Significantly a topic the two discuss is the James short story ?The Middle Years? which reflects a similar artist relation to his work dynamic as our narrative. We witness three ?portraits of the artist? being painted simultaneously: Lonoff?s by Zuckerman?s imagined-Lonoff?s as well as his own. Lonoff emerges as being a Father figure for the narrator. Roth, painting with all three hands, works in two additional intertwined stories: Zuckerman?s recently strained relation with his own father, and the appearance of Lonoff?s young secretary Amy, who of course, is also a young writer-in-waiting.



The full review here (http://windsweptfiction.wordpress.com/2009/08/22/the-ghost-writer-philip-roth/).

Who said Corm had 'way way more amunition' than Phil ?


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[e joseph]

First off, nice review. Well done.

While I've only read a few Roth novels (5 I think...which is nothing for Roth), The Ghost Writer is my favorite thus far. For a novel in which essentially very little happens as far as action, I had a difficult time setting it aside to carry on with my life in the real world.

I'm sure others more well versed in Roth (cue beezlebubbles) could recommend where in the wide world of Roth to navigate next, but I'll toss in my two cents: I found Portnoy's Complaint a big letdown after The Ghost Writer. Actually, nuts to you Promtbr, I have my own agenda now. What Roth should I read next?

[Mirabell]

Good review. Very well done. I was so stunned by the Ghost Writer that I shied away from writing a review of my own.

It's really great. One of my favorite novels of his together with sabbath, the conspiracy and the pastoral/communist/stain trilogy of novels.

[Richard Sheehan]

The Zuckerman Bound novels, mentioned in the review above are a good continuation, as are the American History Trilogy of American Pastoral, I married a communist and the Human stain.

I liked his last one, 'Indignation' a lot as well, and he has a new novel, 'The Humbling' out in November.

Good review, by the way.

[beelzebubbles]

Well Joe-E, what are looking for?

What have you read?

You certainly can't go wrong continuing with the early Zuckerman stories. They get progressively more antic and darker as the series wears on until Roth ties it all up with a lovely grey crepe ribbon, the kind you might find in a funeral home, called the Prague Orgy.

If you are looking for a doppelganger story (I dearly love a doppelganger story), something Po-Mo that plays with the author's perceived identity and his reader's identification with him, then I offer you Operation Shylock: A Confession.

Try Sabbath's Theater if you want Rabelaisian antics, that cover a dank well of grief. It is harsh, hard, no holds barred, insanity. And funny.

And finally, if you are looking for a love story filled with humor and pity, I recommend Patrimony. These guys loved each other. It had me laughing and ended with me crying as the sun came up. I read it in one night. I could not put it down.

[Daniel del Real]

Well Joe-E, what are looking for?

What have you read?

You certainly can't go wrong continuing with the early Zuckerman stories. They get progressively more antic and darker as the series wears on until Roth ties it all up with a lovely grey crepe ribbon, the kind you might find in a funeral home, called the Prague Orgy.

If you are looking for a doppelganger story (I dearly love a doppelganger story), something Po-Mo that plays with the author's perceived identity and his reader's identification with him, then I offer you Operation Shylock: A Confession.

Try Sabbath's Theater if you want Rabelaisian antics, that cover a dank well of grief. It is harsh, hard, no holds barred, insanity. And funny.

And finally, if you are looking for a love story filled with humor and pity, I recommend Patrimony. These guys loved each other. It had me laughing and ended with me crying as the sun came up. I read it in one night. I could not put it down.


I read Patrimony and I gotta say is a very touching story. The way Roth describes his father is splendid.

[e joseph]

Thanks for the recommendations Beelzetc. I was (half)joking about figuring out what Roth to tackle next. Most of my books I pick up at the local thrift shop - yes I'm that cheap. And it's a fun way to find books. Luckily Roth has enough books out there that he shows up at the thrift store fairly frequently, or at least his books do. In fact, I picked up The Human Stain recently. Hopefully Sabbath's Theater pops up soon as I'm finding that one the most appealing right now...

And since you asked, I've read The Ghost Writer, Portnoy's Complaint, Our Gang, The Plot Against America and Indignation.

Thanks again.

[anchomal]

When people pull a face at the mention of Philip Roth, this is the book I push on them. I've read most of his work (apart from a few of the fat late-60s/early-70s ones) and The Ghost Writer is probably my favourite (though Goodbye, Columbus runs it close). A beautiful read.
Roth might be a tad too popular to win the Nobel Prize, but there are more than a few winners who have deserved it less.

[Stiffelio]

I just completed reading The Ghost Writer, my first and I must say very happy encounter with Nathan Zuckerman. I intend to eventually read the whole series but I don't see how they could get any better than this gem of a novel. When inspired, Roth can be a real treat to read. I love his self-deprecating, guilt-ridden Jewish humor, his probing ability into the human soul, his ability to load meaning into every sentence. In this novel Roth pays homage to many literary masters who wrote before him: Joyce's A portrait of the Artist as a Young Man comes to mind, and his rapport with his idol Lonoff is of Jamesian proportions. But most of all this short novel is a tribute to writing fiction and to the art of creating imaginary worlds. Anybody who intends to become a writer should read it for inspiration.

[anchomal]

Interesting that the model for Lonoff was supposed to be Bernard Malamud. I'm sure I read somewhere (though it is possible I imagined it) that Nabokov was the inspiration.
Roth certainly had a golden decade during the '90s, he was critically and popularly lauded and wrote several fine novels, American Pastoral probably edging out Sabbath's Theatre as my own person pick from that period. But, for me, none were as good as The Ghost Writer.

[Heteronym]

I ordered this novel a few days ago because I haven't read Roth in a while. I'm sad I've read 'Zuckerman Bound' all out of order - The Anatomy Lesson and The Prague Orgy are already read. TAL was really awesome, I loved Zuckerman pretending to be a pornographer when he was kind of sulking about all his personal problems: so childish and yet so truthful...

I'm really anxious to read this novel.

[Heteronym]

This is a fun, if slim, novel. It has Roth's typical humor and concerns about the Jewish-American middle class. I love the way Roth describes Zuckerman and his family, with his young desire to be an uncompromised artist and his parents accusing him of writing anti-semitic literature because for them a Jewish writer must write jews in a positive manner. Roth touches one of the taboos of our times: you can't say anything about jewish people without being labelled as a racist. The list of questions one of his father's friends sends him, asking him things like, could Goebbels have used his work as propaganda, was priceless. How many writers have the courage to be so self-deprecating and in poor taste?

I'm really anxious to read Zuckerman Unbound, but first I have to read Portnoy's Complaint.