The Human Stain (The American Trilogy, #3) in Philip Roth... is awesome.

Nov 30, 2012 Amin rated it it was amazing

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The Human Stain is a work of incredible force, beauty, structure, precision, and vividity. You cannot talk of one style, because there is no such thing. There are multiple styles for multiple consciousnesses. And each one has been developed and done with utmost dexterity and prowess. Where else can you find a character like Faunia? Like Lester Farley? And like Coleman Silk? How else can you dig into their lives like this? These are characters about whom, about each of whom, ten or more books can The Human Stain is a work of incredible force, beauty, structure, precision, and vividity. You cannot talk of one style, because there is no such thing. There are multiple styles for multiple consciousnesses. And each one has been developed and done with utmost dexterity and prowess. Where else can you find a character like Faunia? Like Lester Farley? And like Coleman Silk? How else can you dig into their lives like this? These are characters about whom, about each of whom, ten or more books can be written. Philip Roth gives us a story which we cannot believe to be fiction, to be made up, to be created. It's a story the reader will feel has always been there, like a germ of truth.

I believe that this work differs slightly from, and stands above, Roth's other works. The difference and superiority is because of the fact that in The Human Stain Roth is not only a great psychologist, a great teller, an elaborator, but also a displayer, an illustrator, a master stylist, a maestro of tone and atmosphere and view and voice and everything that is there to be shown in his collection of characters. He develops multiple vocabulary and languages for his different characters. For the Vietanam War veteran, for the illiterate Faunia who has been wronged by most everybody since childhood and is averted to learning, for Coleman Silk who is not less complicated than the former ones, if not more.

Roth's narrative control and organization is colossal. The strength of the prose and the description is strange at times. So many deep insights about sex, trauma, terror, writing, and about different aspects of life are in this book that is enough for a lifetime as food for thought. Roth is also vocal about many issues and misunderstandings and shallow views about them. Such as racism, feminism, language, academia etc.

There is the usual Philip-Roth tragi-comedy tension between the random forces of life and the struggle for singularity. But this work is the best example of this in his corpus. I really need to mention Roth's involvement, or maybe obsession, with history, and how skillfully he uses the story to write about history and uses the history to write about the story. But that's a long discussion.

Finally, when I was reading this unassailable masterpiece, I was thinking that Roth's priority must always be story. That's why I think Roth is primarily an elemental story teller. His realism, not on the level of narration, but on a deeper level, is a savage and wild one, one to which there is no stop, a comprehensive or total realism, if I may call it. That's why he tells us a story as if it's biographical. As if it's been there all along. In a way not the slightest lack of logic or rational failure can be found. The story is perfect. Must be perfect. There is no room for what the writer wants or likes. It's the story which tells him what to write. It's the characters. And again, that's why long after the story's events have all happened and there is nothing major left to happen, understanding, logic, evidence, dialogue, thought, consciousness, introspection, and retrospection continue.

I need another star for this book. ...more

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Mar 05, 2016 Gerardo rated it it was amazing

(In Spanish below)

Moving.
In a word, this would be the best adjective for summarizing Roth's "The Human Stain".
Not that "American Pastoral" and "I married a communist" were not (to the contrary, especially the former had such a potency for tearing myself apart inside), but the last of the three volumes of the America Trilogy presents such a cast of characters, so deeply human, in such an array of descriptions, solilloquies, internal monologues, daily situations and life-changing situations that (In Spanish below)

Moving.
In a word, this would be the best adjective for summarizing Roth's "The Human Stain".
Not that "American Pastoral" and "I married a communist" were not (to the contrary, especially the former had such a potency for tearing myself apart inside), but the last of the three volumes of the America Trilogy presents such a cast of characters, so deeply human, in such an array of descriptions, solilloquies, internal monologues, daily situations and life-changing situations that it is impossible not to feel like looking through a glass into the life and woes of actual people.
Coleman Silk, with its unstoppable ambitions quarreling with America's zeitgeist; Faunia Farley, a woman as strong as scarred by life; Lester Farley, the Vietnam veteran for whom you end up feeling sympathy (in the lines of disturbingly feeling sympathy for Nabokov's Humbert Humbert), to name only the main characters, but you get the idea - all the characters are so vivid, so passionate and troubled, so mundane and yet so unforgettable, that the 361 pages this novel takes go by in a blink of an eye.
Style-wise, this is Roth after having been a writer for 30 years: fully secure in his craft, letting all his vocabulary and syntactic difficulty and beauty smoothly unfold, as he goes back and forth in the storyline of the characters, disentangling the reasons for their behaviors, attitudes, and longings.

This is not your average novel, yet it is definitely worth your time and effort reading it. Although it might feel somewhat tedious at some parts, persevere in the reading - it is just part of the game. Sooner than later, Roth slaps you in the face with a plot twist, a paragraph full of life wisdom or a sentence so gorgeous you need to read it again two or three more times just for the pleasure of it. The Human Stain is, without a doubt, Roth at its best.

Conmovedor.

En una palabra, éste sería el mejor adjetivo para resumir "La mancha humana", de Philip Roth. Y no es que "Pastoral Americana" y "Me casé con un comunista" no lo fueran (al contrario, y especialmente el primero tuvo tal potencia para hacerme pedazos internamente), pero el último de los tres volúmenes de la Trilogía de América presenta tal elenco de personajes, tan profundamente humanos, en semejante variedad de descripciones, soliloquios, monólogos internos, situaciones cotidianas y situaciones en las que sus vidas cambian radicalmente que es imposible no senstirse como si estuvieras mirando a través de un cristal la vida y penas de gente de verdad.

Coleman Silk, con sus imparables ambiciones luchando contra el zeitgeist americano; Faunia Farley, una mujer tan fuerte como herida por la vida; Lester Farley, el veterano de Vietnam por el que terminas sintiendo comprensión (en la línea de sentir comprensión, de manera un tanto perturbadora, por el Humbert Humbert de Nabokov), por nombrar solo a algunos de los personajes principales, pero te haces una idea: los personajes son tan vívidos, tan pasionales y afligidos, tan mundanos y aún así tan inolvidables, que las 361 páginas que componen esta novel ase pasan en un parpadeo.

A nivel de estilo, éste es Roth después de haber sido escritor durante los últimos 30 años: completamente seguro en su arte, dejando que toda la dificultad y belleza de su vocabulario y sintaxis se desplieguen fluidamente mientras que él va adelante y atrás en la línea temporal de la vida de los personajes, desenredando las razones de sus comportamientos, actitudes y anhelos.

Esta no es tu novela promedio, pero se merece, definitivamente, tu tiempo y el esfuerzo de leerla. Aunque a veces pueda resultar un poco tediosa, persevera en la lectura: es parte del juego. Más temprano que tarde, Roth te da una bofetada en la cara con un giro de guión, un párrafo lleno de sabiduría vital o una frase tan bella que necesitas leerla de nuevo dos o tres veces solo por el placer de hacerlo. "La mancha humana es, sin ninguna duda, el mejor Roth. ...more

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