American Pastoral (Masterplots II: American Fiction Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Philip Roth
- First Published: 1997
- Type of Plot: Realism
- Time of Work: 1968-1973, 1985, and 1995
- Setting: Newark, New Jersey, and environs
- Principal Characters: Nathan Zuckerman, Seymour “Swede” Levov, Dawn Levov, Merry Levov, Lou Levov, Jerry Levov
- Genres: Long fiction, Realism
- Subjects: Family or family life, Religion, American Dream, Jews or Jewish life, Vietnam War
- Locales: New York, Newark, NJ
The Novel
American Pastoral has three parts. Nathan Zuckerman is the first-person narrator of part 1, “Paradise Remembered,” but he then fades out of direct sight as the presumed omniscient narrator of part 2 (“The Fall”) and part 3 (“Paradise Lost”). In 1995, attending his forty-fifth high school reunion in Newark—a day of nostalgic recollections of youthful passions and follies, and a day of dark talk about prostates and bypasses—Zuckerman is shocked to learn from his old buddy, Jerry Levov, that Jerry’s older brother, Swede Levov, a former star high...
[The entire page is 2341 words long]
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