Single Works

[Charles Corlett]

On Thu, 5 Oct 1995 grip at netcom.com wrote:

> Some years ago I recall reading a book that impressed me at the time. 
> (Lots of things impressed me then!) It was "Call It Sleep" by someone 
> named Roth, I think. Has anyone else read it? I don't recall seeing 
> anything else by him. What's your take on it?
> 
> grip
> 
 It was Henry Roth and he didn't publish another book for 60 odd years.  I 
think "Call it Sleep" was 1934.  But he's in his eighties now with 
horrible arthritis.  I think he lives in Arizona and he has supposedly 
written about six more novels--two of which have been published 
recently.  The whole series is called "Mercy of A Rude Stream."  I read 
the first volume "A Star Shines over Mt. Morris Park."  It has many of 
the same details as "Call it Sleep," but the prose is simpler and pared 
down.  There is not as much richness of detail and no virtuoso 
descriptions.  The climactic scene of "Call it Sleep" is genius: the 
sparks and the streetcar . . .  Roth's first novel is considered one of 
the seminal books of the early part of this century, and I think Kazin 
called it the greatest book of the immigrant Jewish experience.  His 
recent publications after sixty years! is one of the strangest publishing 
incidents ever.  Unprecedented I believe . . . Salinger will probably 
pull a similar stunt, but without the genuine pathos of Roth's 
experience.  "A Star Shines over Mt. Morris Park," reveals the reason he 
couldn't write for sixty years.  It also discusses the pain and fright 
his first book caused him.  "Call it Sleep" also enters the category of a 
recovered and rediscovered classic. 
 	Charles