Mercy of a Rude Stream (Masterplots II: American Fiction Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Henry Roth
- First Published: 1994
- Type of Plot: Autobiographical
- Time of Work: The 1920’s to the 1990’s
- Setting: New York City and New Mexico
- Principal Characters: Ira Stigman, M., Chaim Stigman, Leah Stigman, Minnie Stigman, Edith Welles, Larry Gordon, Ecclesias
- Genres: Long fiction, Autobiographical fiction
- Subjects: Family or family life, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., Self-discovery, United States or Americans, Socialism, Psychology or psychologists, New York City, Social issues, 1910’s, 1920’s, Immigration or emigration, Jews or Jewish life, Truth, World War I, Life, philosophy of, Eastern Europe or eastern Europeans, Ireland or Irish people, Realism, Bar Mitzvahs, Merchants
- Locales: New York, NY, New Mexico
The Novel
Mercy of a Rude Stream is narrated by a fictitious character in his late eighties living alone in New Mexico. Stigman closely resembles the real author, who died in Albuquerque at eighty-nine. The octogenarian Stigman is writing about growing up in New York City. Young Ira’s life parallels what is known about Roth’s own early life. Mercy of a Rude Stream, a work of pure realism, is thinly disguised autobiography.
The narrator frequently interrupts his story to complain about his present life (which mirrors that of Roth himself). At other...
[The entire page is 2203 words long]
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