Philip Roth

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Best-Selling Biography on Pause After Rape Allegations

Philip Roth biographer Blake Bailey also accused of grooming young students

(Newser) - Acclaimed biographer Blake Bailey has been hit with sexual assault allegations just as he was "approaching what seemed like the apex of his literary career," reports the New York Times . And as a result, Bailey's publisher now says it will stop shipping and promoting his new book,...

Philip Roth Dead at 85
Philip Roth Dead at 85
OBITUARY
May 23, 2018 5:33 AM CDT

Philip Roth Dead at 85

Portnoy's Complaint author died of heart failure

(Newser) - Philip Roth, the prize-winning novelist and fearless narrator of sex, death, assimilation, and fate, from the comic madness of Portnoy's Complaint to the elegiac lyricism of American Pastoral, died Tuesday night at age 85. Roth's literary agent, Andrew Wylie, says he died in a New York City hospital...

Philip Roth Pens Open Letter to Wikipedia to Fix Error

... and it works, after he is first rejected as a 'credible source'

(Newser) - Philip Roth glanced at the Wikipedia entry for his novel The Human Stain and learned that his book was inspired by the life of the late writer and literary critic Anatole Broyard. The problem, writes Roth in an open letter to Wikipedia published in the New Yorker , is that the...

Philip Roth: I Did Not 'Crack Up'

Novelist refutes magazine, says it was a bad reaction to sleeping pill

(Newser) - Philip Roth isn't happy with the Atlantic: A recent piece in the magazine said he suffered from "a 'crack-up' in his mid-50s," and the novelist says that's simply "not true." The Atlantic Wire points out that the episode, "whatever you call it,...

Philip Roth Wins Man Booker International Prize
Philip Roth Wins Man Booker Prize
UPDATED
May 18, 2011 9:38 AM CDT

Philip Roth Wins Man Booker Prize

...but one member of the 3-person judging panel quits in protest

(Newser) - 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...

Why Writing About Sex Is So Hard

 Why Writing About 
 Sex Is So Hard 
Paging Carrie Bradshaw
Nov 30, 2009 12:46 PM CST

Why Writing About Sex Is So Hard

It's actually all the readers' fault

(Newser) - 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 this...

Young Jewish Writers Cool With Being Jewish
Young Jewish Writers Cool With Being Jewish
GLOSSIES
Apr 9, 2009 12:58 PM CDT

Young Jewish Writers Cool With Being Jewish

alt hed: 'New Yiddishists' Bring Ethnic Pride to the Page

(Newser) - 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...

Roth's Latest Doesn't Measure Up
 Roth's Latest 
 Doesn't Measure Up 
BOOK Review
Sep 17, 2008 6:11 PM CDT

Roth's Latest Doesn't Measure Up

New Novel's protagonist too earnest for a fun read, says Kakutani

(Newser) - 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...

Politics More Than Plot Twist for Roth

Author talks about the old character in his new book—and lays into Bush

(Newser) - 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
NYT's Top Reads for 2007
Nov 22, 2007 5:17 PM CST

NYT's Top Reads for 2007

Agent Zigzag and Foreskin's Lament among best 100 in Book Review

(Newser) - 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 Political
...

10 Stories