antw. Roth and Pynchon

[lorentzen-nicklaus]

MalignD at aol.com schrieb:

> << MalignD.....do you have a favorite Roth? If so, which and why. >>

> Yes.  The Counterlife and Operation Shylock.  

  found both of them mindblowing, too. the more political roth writes the better 
  he is. the books focussing primarily on erotic education (like 'portnoy's     
  complaint', 'deception' or 'sabbath's theater') i found not half as good.

  next time i try "the human stain". 

  here in germany philip roth, whose novels always make it into the charts, is  
  read a lot. 
 
  kfl
  
> However, I think there is great reward in reading Roth in chronological 
> order, beginning with The Ghost Writer, the first of the Zuckerman novels, 
> written in 1980.  Three of these (Zuckerman novels)--The Ghost Writer, 
> Zuckerman Unbound, and The Anatomy Lesson--plus a novella, The Prague Orgy, 
> can be found in a single trade paperback, one of the great literary bargains 
> out there (along with Three by Flannery O'Conner).  The Counterlife is the 
> culmination of this series.  All wonderful novels, best read in order, I 
> think.
>
> Operation Shylock is not a Zuckerman novel (Zuckerman is a sort of alter-ego 
> of Roth's), but, like The Counterlife, it is set in Israel for the most part. 
>  Both are brilliant.
>
> He then wrote Sabbath's Theater, which I am not crazy about, and then another 
> trilogy:  American Pastoral, I Married a Communist, and The Human Stain.  
> These are also Zuckerman novels, but narrated by--rather than primarily 
> about--him.  They are different in tone and approach.  Also wonderful.  
>
> Together, written over the last twenty years, the novels comprise the best 
> body of work by any writer in that period.  They are intelligent, funny, 
> intellectually  rigorous.  The prose is wonderful.  
>
> I can't recommend them highly enough.
>