CRITICISM

Bakewell, Geoffrey W. “Philip Roth's Oedipal Stain.” Classical and Modern Literature 24, no. 2 (fall 2004): 29-46.

Examines The Human Stain and its sources within Sophocles's Oedipus plays.

Gessen, Keith. “Deposition for a Master.” Dissent 47, no. 4 (fall 2000): 115-19.

Explores the strengths and weaknesses of The Human Stain, asserting that the book explores moral choices made in everyday life, lauding Roth as a leader in contemporary fiction.

Johnson, Gary. “The Presence of Allegory: The Case of Philip Roth's American Pastoral.” Narrative 12, no. 3 (October 2004): 233-48.

Explores the relationship between narrative and allegory, focusing on American Pastoral and the ways this novel examines the construction of allegories.

Parrish, Timothy L. “Ralph Ellison: The Invisible Man in Philip Roth's The Human Stain.” Contemporary Literature 45, no. 3 (fall 2004): 421-59.

Examines treatments of ethnic identity and racial politics in The Human Stain and Ralph Ellison's novel The Invisible Man.

Royal, Derek Parker. “Fictional Realms of Possibility: Reimagining the Ethnic Subject in Philip Roth's American Pastoral.” Studies in American Jewish Literature 20 (2001): 1-16.

Maintains that The Ghost Writer and American Pastoral include protagonists who reimagine their realities and establish territory where they can “renegotiate their subjectivity.”

Rubin-Dorsky, Jeffrey. “Philip Roth and American Jewish Identity: The Question of Authenticity.” American Literary History 13, no. 1 (spring 2001): 79-107.

Provides discussion of Roth as a Jewish American writer, asserting that his recent work contains a “contemporary spirit of Jewish self-examination and cultural inquiry.”

Schiavone, Michele. “The Presence of John R. Tunis' The Kid from Tomkinsville in Malamud's The Natural and Roth's American Pastoral.

Asserts that John R. Tunis's The Kid from Tomkinsville provides source material for Bernard Malamud's The Natural and Roth's American Pastoral.

Siegel, Lee. “Love in the Ruins.” Los Angeles Times Book Review (6 May 2001): 1.

A mixed review of The Dying Animal, asserting that Roth's style has become clear and mature, but faulting him for using “outmoded and banal” concepts.

Spargo, R. Clifton. “To Invent as Presumptuously as Real Life: Parody and the Cultural Memory of Anne Frank in Roth's The Ghost Writer.” Representations, no. 76 (fall 2001): 88-119.

Provides analysis of Roth's treatment of the Anne Frank story and the Holocaust in The Ghost Writer.

Zucker, David. “The Breath of the Dummy: Philip Roth's Nathan Zuckerman Trilogies.” Studies in American Jewish Literature 22 (2003): 129-44.

Examines Roth's Nathan Zuckerman trilogy, the treatment of the concept of ventriloquy, and explores themes of self-identity within the works.

Additional coverage of Roth's life and career is contained in the following sources published by Thomson Gale: American Writers Retrospective Supplement, Vol. 2; American Writers Supplement, Vol. 3; Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction: Biography & Resources, Vol. 3; Bestsellers, Vol. 90:3; Concise Dictionary of American Literary Biography, 1968-1988; Contemporary Authors, Vols. 1-4R; Contemporary Authors New Revision Series, Vols. 1, 22, 36, 55, 89, 132; Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vols. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 15, 22, 31, 47, 66, 86, 119; Contemporary Novelists, Ed. 7; Contemporary Popular Writers, Ed. 1; Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vols. 2, 28, 173; Dictionary of Literary Biography Yearbook, 1982; DISCovering Authors; DISCovering Authors: British Edition; DISCovering Authors: Canadian Edition DISCovering Authors Modules: Most-studied, Novelists, and Popular Fiction and Genre Authors; DISCovering Authors 3.0; Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th Century, Ed. 3; Literature Resource Center; Major 20th-Century Writers, Eds. 1, 2; Reference Guide to American Literature, Ed. 4; Reference Guide to Short Fiction, Ed. 2; Short Stories for Students, Vols. 12, 18; Short Story Criticism, Vol. 26; Twayne's United States Authors; and World Literature Criticism.