Philip Roth




Philip Roth

author profile

born March 19, 1933
gender male
place of birth Newark, New Jersey, United States
genre Literature & Fiction

about this author

Philip Milton Roth is an American novelist. He gained early literary fame with the 1959 collection Goodbye, Columbus (winner of 1960's National Book Award), cemented it with his 1969 bestseller Portnoy's Complaint, and has continued to write critically-acclaimed works, many of which feature his fictional alter ego, Nathan Zuckerman. The Zuckerman novels began with The Ghost Writer in 1979, and include the Pulitzer Prize-winning American Pastoral (1997).

books by Philip Roth

combine editions
avg rating: 3.73 | 18455 ratings | 55 distinct works
The Plot Against America The Plot Against America (Vintage International)
by Philip Roth
avg rating 3.65 — 2675 ratings — published 2004
22 editions
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American Pastoral American Pastoral (Paperback)
by Philip Roth
avg rating 3.93 — 2066 ratings — published 1997
14 editions
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The Human Stain The Human Stain (Paperback)
by Philip Roth
avg rating 3.69 — 1706 ratings — published 2001
23 editions
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Goodbye, Columbus and Five Sho... Goodbye, Columbus and Five Short Stories (Modern Library)
by Philip Roth
avg rating 3.97 — 733 ratings — published 1959
11 editions
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Sabbath's Theater Sabbath's Theater (Paperback)
by Philip Roth
avg rating 3.73 — 430 ratings — published 1995
15 editions
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I Married a Communist I Married a Communist (Paperback)
by Philip Roth
avg rating 3.73 — 418 ratings — published 1999
15 editions
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The Counterlife The Counterlife (Paperback)
by Philip Roth
avg rating 3.93 — 307 ratings — published 1996
17 editions
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The Breast The Breast (Paperback)
by Philip Roth
avg rating 3.27 — 274 ratings — published 1984
14 editions
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Operation Shylock Operation Shylock (Paperback)
by Philip Roth
avg rating 3.86 — 225 ratings — published 1994
11 editions
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The Dying Animal The Dying Animal (Paperback)
by Philip Roth
avg rating 3.49 — 236 ratings — published 2006
16 editions
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quotes by Philip Roth

463
"You fight your superficiality, your shallowness, so as to try to come at people without unreal expectations, without an overload of bias or hope or arrogance, as untanklike as you can be, sans cannon and machine guns and steel plating half a foot thick; you come at them unmenacingly on your own ten toes instead of tearing up the turf with your caterpillar treads, take them on with an open mind, as equals, man to man, as we used to say, and yet you never fail to get them wrong. You might as well have the brain of a tank. You get them wrong before you meet them, while you're anticipating meeting them; you get them wrong while you're with them; and then you go home to tell somebody else about the meeting and you get them all wrong again. Since the same generally goes for them with you, the whole thing is really a dazzling illusion. ... The fact remains that getting people right is not what living is all about anyway. It's getting them wrong that is living, getting them wrong and wrong and wrong and then, on careful reconsideration, getting them wrong again. That's how we know we're alive: we're wrong. Maybe the best thing would be to forget being right or wrong about people and just go along for the ride. But if you can do that -- well, lucky you. "
Philip Roth
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463
"I don’t ask writers about their work habits. I really don’t care. Joyce Carol Oates says somewhere that when writers ask each other what time they start working and when they finish and how much time they take for lunch, they’re actually trying to find out, "Is he as crazy as I am?" I don’t need that question answered."
Philip Roth
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463
"He had learned the worst lesson that life can teach - that it makes no sense."
Philip Roth (American Pastoral)
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