Mocking the Age: The Later Novels of Philip Roth (S U N Y Series in Modern Jewish Literature and Culture) [Hardcover]

Elaine B. Safer (Author)

Book Description

Series: S U N Y Series in Modern Jewish Literature and Culture | Publication Date: March 2, 2006

Explores the comic devices Roth uses to satirize his times, the Jewish community, and himself.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The first comprehensive assessment of Philip Roth’s later novels, Mocking the Age offers rich and insightful readings that explore how these extraordinary works satirize our contemporary culture. From The Ghost Writer to The Plot Against America, Roth uses humor to address deadly serious matters, including social and political issues, psychological problems, postmodern concerns, and the absurd. In her clear and extensive analyses of these works, Elaine B. Safer looks at how Roth’s approach to the comic incorporates the self-deprecating humor of Jewish comedians, as well as the humor of nineteenth-century Eastern European Jewish storytellers and such twentieth-century writers as Bernard Malamud and Saul Bellow. Filling the void on critical examinations of Roth’s later work, Safer’s book provides a thorough appraisal of Roth’s lifetime accomplishment and an essential evaluation of his comic genius.

"Safer’s treatment is a reflection of her deep and meticulously researched involvement with Roth and her obvious desire to do justice to him. This book will stand for years to come as the definitive work on the later novels of Philip Roth." - Daniel Walden, editor of Twentieth-Century American-Jewish Fiction Writers

"Safer explores the relation of humor to theme, form, and narration in ways that are consistently intelligent, illuminating, and interesting. She draws easily and gracefully on contemporary and nineteenth-century American fiction, on the wide critical response to Roth’s work, and on other historical and philosophical texts that explain Roth’s texts and methods." - Judith Yaross Lee, author of Defining New Yorker Humor

About the Author

Elaine B. Safer is Professor of English at the University of Delaware and the author of The Contemporary American Comic Epic: The Novels of Barth, Pynchon, Gaddis, and Kesey.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 219 pages
• Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr (March 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0791467090
• ISBN-13: 978-0791467091
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,505,050 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.