Patrimony (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Philip Roth
- First Published: 1991
- Type of Work: Memoir
- Time of Work: 1988-1989
- Setting: New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Florida
- Principal Characters: Herman Roth, Philip Roth, Sandy Roth, Lillian Beloff, Claire Bloom, Bessie Roth, Walter Herrmann, Bill Weber, Dr. Meyerson
- Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir
- Subjects: Family or family life, Suffering, Pragmatism, Autobiography, Cancer, Anti-Semitism, Death or dying, Widows or widowers, Comedy, Realism
- Locales: Connecticut, New York, Florida, New Jersey
With its first two words, “My father,” Patrimony might startle readers of Philip Roth’s eighteen previous books. Though mothers—particularly in the notorious Portnoy’s Complaint (1969), where the smotherly love of Sophie is a crucial cause of Alexander Portnoy’s complaint—are conspicuous and domineering presences, fathers are absent or feeble figures in much of Roth’s fiction. Yet Patrimony, subtitled A True Story, denies that it is a fiction. It follows The Facts: A Novelist’s Autobiography (1988) and Deception (1990) as the...
[The entire page is 1771 words long]
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