Philip Roth: Novels & Stories 1959-1962 (LOA #157) by Philip Roth

Philip Roth: Novels & Stories 1959-1962 (LOA #157) by Philip Roth

For the last half century, the novels of Philip Roth have re-energized American fiction and redefined its possibilities. Roth's comic genius, his imaginative daring, his courage in exploring uncomfortable truths, and his assault on political, cultural, and sexual orthodoxies have made him one of the essential writers of our time. By special arrangement with the author, The Library of America now inaugurates the definitive edition of Roth's collected works. This first volume presents Goodbye, Columbus and Five Short Stories, the book that established Roth's reputation on publication in 1959 and for which he won the National Book Award, and his first novel, Letting Go (1962).

The title novella, Goodbye, Columbus, the story of a summer romance between a poor young man from Newark and a rich Radcliffe co-ed, is both a tightly wrought tale of youthful desire and a satiric gem that takes aim at the comfortable affluence of the postwar boom. Here and in the stories that accompany it, including The Conversion of the Jews and Defender of the Faith, Roth depicts Jewish lives in 1950s America with an unflinching sharpness of observation.

In Letting Go, a sprawling novel set largely against the backdrop of Chicago in the 1950s, Roth portrays the moral dilemmas of young people cast precipitously into adulthood, and in the process describes a skein of social and family responsibilities as they are brought into focus by issues of marriage, abortion, adoption, friendship, and career. The novel's expansiveness provides a wide scope for Roth's gift for vivid characterization, and in his protagonist Gabe Wallach he creates a nuanced portrait of a responsive young academic whose sense of morality draws him into the ordeals of others with unforeseen consequences.

In 1997, PHILIP ROTH (1933-2018) was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for American Pastoral. In 1998, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Bill Clinton, and in 2002, he was given the Gold Medal in Fiction by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, which had previously been given to John Dos Passos, William Faulkner, and Saul Bellow, among others. He was the recipient of the National Book Award, the PEN/Faulkner Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award on two occasions. The Conspiracy Against America won the Society of American Historians' prize for the best historical book on an American theme in 2003-2004, as well as the W.H. Auden Award. In 2005, Roth became the third living American writer to have his works published in a full, definitive edition by the Library of America, making him the first writer to win the prize twice in the prize's forty-six-year history.

In 2011, he was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama, and he went on to win the Man Booker International Award for the fourth time. In 2012, he earned Spain's highest accolade, the Prince of Asturias Award, and in 2013, he was named Commander of the Legion of Honor, France's highest decoration.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781931082792
ISBN 10	1931082790
Title	Philip Roth: Novels & Stories 1959-1962 (LOA #157)
Author	Philip Roth
Series	Library Of America Philip Roth Edition
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	The Library of America
Year published	2005-08-18
Number of pages	913
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.