Novels and Other Narratives, 1986-1991: The Counterlife / The Facts / Deception / Patrimony

by Philip Roth, Ross Miller (Editor)

For the last half century, the novels of Philip Roth have re-energized American fiction and redefined its possibilities, leading the critic Harold Bloom to proclaim Roth “our foremost novelist since Faulkner.” Roth's comic genius, his imaginative daring, his courage in exploring uncomfortable truths, and his assault on political, cultural, and sexual orthodoxies have made him one of the essential writers of our time. By special arrangement with the author, The Library of America continues the definitive edition of Roth's collected works.

This fifth volume of The Library of America's definitive edition of Philip Roth's collected works presents four books that exemplify the description of Roth, proposed by British novelist Anthony Burgess, as a writer “who never steps twice into the same river.” The Counterlife (1986) is a novel told from conflicting perspectives about people enacting drastic dreams of renewal and escape. The Facts (1988)—the first of the “Roth Books”—is a novelist's autobiography in which the author presents his own battles defictionalized and unadorned. In the second Roth book, Deception (1990), a married American named Philip, living in London, and the married Englishwoman who is his mistress meet sporadically in a secret trysting place where the woman eloquently reveals herself to her lover as they talk before and after making love. In the third Roth book, Patrimony (1991), the author watches as his 86-year-old father, Herman Roth, battles a fatal brain tumor.

Library of America #185

Library of America #185

Genres: Fiction, Literature

800 pages, Hardcover

First published September 4, 2008

About the author

Philip Milton Roth was an American novelist and short-story writer. Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophically and formally blurring the distinction between reality and fiction, for its "sensual, ingenious style" and for its provocative explorations of American identity. He first gained attention with the 1959 short story collection Goodbye, Columbus, which won the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction. Ten years later, he published the bestseller Portnoy's Complaint. Nathan Zuckerman, Roth's literary alter ego, narrates several of his books. A fictionalized Philip Roth narrates some of his others, such as the alternate history The Plot Against America.
Roth was one of the most honored American writers of his generation. He received the National Book Critics Circle award for The Counterlife, the PEN/Faulkner Award for Operation Shylock, The Human Stain, and Everyman, a second National Book Award for Sabbath's Theater, and the Pulitzer Prize for American Pastoral. In 2005, the Library of America began publishing his complete works, making him the second author so anthologized while still living, after Eudora Welty. Harold Bloom named him one of the four greatest American novelists of his day, along with Cormac McCarthy, Thomas Pynchon, and Don DeLillo. In 2001, Roth received the inaugural Franz Kafka Prize in Prague.

Reviews

[Evyn Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of 4 Philip Roth books, 1 of which "The Facts" is semi autobiographical--he brings in his alter ego Nathan Zuckerman to critique his autobiography in "The Facts." Always interesting and challenging. My favorite was "Patrimony," an real life account of his father's last years after losing his wife and being diagnosed with an incurable tumor. Very powerful.
This is not a good starting point for someone who has never read this author but a must-read for any fan.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Setting aside the non-fiction for now, as my focus is only on the fictions, however weirdly the lines are drawn that separate the two.

[Christopher Sutch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Please see my individual reviews of each of the books in this collection.

[Martin Bihl]

The Counterlife - finished 01.24.26

[Larry Benfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

This largely autobiographical work was powerful. The most interesting piece for me was "Patrimony," the story of the author and his dad as dad grew older and eventually died.