Philip Roth has quit. Discuss.

[Jim]

"I decided I was done with fiction. I do not want to read, to write more."
From Salon.com.


The New York Times translation of the original French interview varies slightly, and adds detail:
Mr. Roth told the magazine that he had reread all of his books. “After this, I decided that I was done with fiction,” he said, according to a translation by The Times. “I don’t want to read any more of it, write any more of it, and I don’t even want to talk about it anymore. I have dedicated my life to the novel: I have studied it, I have taught it, I have written it and I have read it. To the exclusion of almost everything else. It’s enough.

Although I've never read any Roth (I know...), many of you have. I'm curious to learn your reactions, dear BBoys members.

For myself, I was a bit shocked, but then I read those surprising, candid quotes. Roth has devoted his life to this discipline. If he's grown tired of it, I guess I can't begrudge him, even if I can't quite understand how such a thing can happen.

Thoughts?

[Jason, Walking Allergen]

Hmm...I added a Roth book to the queue, but for myself, I join you in not having read any of his work. Treating fiction like a mathematical calculation solved for zero make me a bit less interested in doing so...

I think it's strange. It's like declaring, "I am done with art, feeling, emotion, and intellectual stimulation. Henceforth, I shall play canasta and watch Survivor." Maybe he shouldn't have read all of his own stuff in a row.

[Dave Alluisi, Evolution of the Arm]

Fiction's a tricky business. It's a business of lying for a living in the pursuit of a greater truth. It's a business where you can create whatever you want on the blank page, but most people choose to both read and write exclusively plots as old as the ancients. Maybe Roth feels like he's said everything he had to say. I'm much younger and not a billionth as accomplished and I've felt like quitting fiction any number of times.

What'll be interesting to me is seeing whether this sticks. There's a narcotic power to creating your own people and worlds, to opening a book and being transported to a reality unlike the doldrums of our own. Abandoning that cold turkey is easier said than done.

[Jason, Walking Allergen]

All of what you say makes sense, Dave, except that he's not swearing off merely writing fiction, but also reading and talking about it. I'd rather cut off my other testicle.

[Dave Alluisi, Evolution of the Arm]

We'll see how we feel when we're Roth's age, I guess. I was talking about both reading and writing fiction, too. (More reading, actually, since I've never done all that much writing.) Thankfully, there's always another great writer or book that draws me out of it, but in another 30 or 40 years, who knows?

[Jim]

Jason wrote: "All of what you say makes sense, Dave, except that he's not swearing off merely writing fiction, but also reading and talking about it. I'd rather cut off my other testicle."
Co-sign, except for the part about the ball. Sorry, the "other" ball...? WTF?

[Matt, I am the Great Went.]

Every time Philip Roth comes up, I get all excited thinking you mean Henry Roth. Once I look up Call It Sleep, I realize you're talking about someone else...and that I have no idea who Philip is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4L0Va...

[Jason, Walking Allergen]

Matt wrote: "Every time Philip Roth comes up, I get all excited thinking you mean Henry Roth. Once I look up Call It Sleep, I realize you're talking about someone else...and that I have no idea who Philip is..."

Are you sure you're not thinking of Eli Roth?



Or maybe it was David Lee Roth?



No, wait, I've got it.