The latest news on the literary beat, darlings, is that Philip Roth is going to call it quits writing books. My first reaction was, "Is that a promise??????" The second was, "Yeah, right!"
Not that I have anything against Philip, whom, truth to tell, I have been reading off and on since my teens. Back then, every youngster of my tender years was latching on to copies of "Portnoy's Complaint," to read what lie between its pretty yellow covers. I can still recall with hilarity,
the increasingly adolescent fantasy (made more so by my getting older) of Roth's fantasy figure, Thereal McCoy, calling "Oh, do it to me, big boy! Big boy! Big boy!" Guess Philip was still stuck in adolescence himself!!!!!!!! Today, if I heard this out of the mouth of anyone, male or female, I would laugh uproariously.
Still, I had to give him some credit. He was a Jerseyite who made it, which signaled to me that perhaps I could. And some of his books, like "Our Gang," were pretty entertaining in a way that showed he could get beyond the licentiousness of 'Portnoy'. But when he wrote the novella, "The Breast," which is "the story of a man who turns into a female breast" (I kid you not, loves!!!!!!!) that was it for me. Was this guy some sexist pig??????? Was he trying to transcend Samuel Beckett or Dalton Trumbo??????
In any case, I swore off Philip Roth for years--till around 2005, when the New York Times book department did an article on "What Is The Best Work Of Fiction Of The Last 25 Years?" Their Number One choice was "Beloved," by Toni Morrison, and I cannot argue with that, but I was amazed how many of Roth's books appeared on the list--several, in fact--and I began to read them. I also discovered two that truly deserve to be there--"American Pastoral," and "The Plot Against America," and I have read 'Pastoral' several times.
But I still could not get over the Old White Boy Literary Network. Every single time Roth put out a book, even if it was not as stunning as 'Pastoral,' or 'Plot' the male book critic community, fueled of course, by The New York Times, simply went ape shit!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I never got it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am much more engaged with the works of some our younger writers--Michael Chabon, the Jonathans Franzen, Lethem and Safran-Foer, T.C. Boyle, Joshua Henkin, and Joshua Ferris--than Roth's output.
Not to fear, darlings; there is enough body of work for those who have not discovered Roth to do so, and for those who may want to, to reread him again. And rest assured, with his ego he is not exactly vanishing. He has said he is going to work on his archives, for his biographer, whomever that is, or may turn out to be. Not me, loves!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Am I sorry Philip Roth is hanging it up?????? Not really!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Because I am confident he will find some way to be heard from, in the future.
Always thinking of oneself, Philip!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment