Philip Roth: Novels and Other Narratives 1986-1991 / The Counterlife / The Facts / Deception / Patrimony (Library of America #185) (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Ross Miller (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

For the last half century, the novels of Philip Roth have re-energized American fiction and redefined its possibilities, leading the critic Harold Bloom to proclaim Roth “our foremost novelist since Faulkner.” 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 continues the definitive edition of Roth’s collected works.

This fifth volume of The Library of America’s definitive edition of Philip Roth’s collected works presents four books that exemplify the description of Roth, proposed by British novelist Anthony Burgess, as a writer “who never steps twice into the same river.” The Counterlife (1986) is a novel told from conflicting perspectives about people enacting drastic dreams of renewal and escape. The Facts (1988)—the first of the “Roth Books”—is a novelist’s autobiography in which the author presents his own battles defictionalized and unadorned. In the second Roth book, Deception (1990), a married American named Philip, living in London, and the married Englishwoman who is his mistress meet sporadically in a secret trysting place where the woman eloquently reveals herself to her lover as they talk before and after making love. In the third Roth book, Patrimony (1991), the author watches as his 86-year-old father, Herman Roth, battles a fatal brain tumor.

About the Author

Ross Miller, editor, is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Connecticut. He is the author of American Apocalypse: The Great Fire and the Myth of Chicago and Here’s the Deal: The Buying and Selling of a Great American City.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 800 pages
• Publisher: Library of America; 1St Edition edition (September 4, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1598530305
• ISBN-13: 978-1598530308
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #86,678 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The fifth and latest volume in the outstanding Library of America series, September 7, 2008

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Philip Roth emerged as one of the most influential American writers of the 20th century and a man whose talents were to stretch the boundaries of western literature and bring new life into American fiction. Capably edited by Ross Miller (Professor of English and Comparative Literature, University of Connecticut), "Philip Roth: Novels and Other Narratives 1986-1991" is the fifth and latest volume in the outstanding Library of America series showcasing the work of this American literary giant. These writings are taking from the author's mid-career and include 'The Counterlife', a ground-breaking novel which was published in 1986; 'The Facts: A Novelist's Autobiography' published in 1988 and represents Roth's professional memoir; 'Deception', a candid noel of adultery published in 1990; and 'Patrimony: A True Story' which, published in 1991, received the National Book Critics Circle Award and is the story of the author observing his 86-year-old father Herman Roth unrelenting struggle against a fatal brain tumor. Published on acid-free paper, "Philip Roth: Novels and Other Narratives 1986-1991" is a critically essential addition to academic and community library American Literature reference collections and 20th Century American Literature supplemental student reading lists.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Roth's transformation from literary provocateur to literary master, September 1, 2009

By	Kyle Minor "reader" (Columbus, Ohio) - See all my reviews

Library of America's Philip Roth: Novels and Other Narratives 1986-1991 collects two novels -- The Counterlife and Deception -- and two nonfictionish books -- The Facts and Patrimony. Roth's earliest work in books like Goodbye, Columbus and Letting Go showcase a gifted apprentice writer grappling with his masters, as far as I can tell mostly Henry James. His first big commercial success is Portnoy's Complaint, in which he abandons clockwork prose for rip-roaring dramatic monologue. To my taste, the books that immediately follow Portnoy -- Our Gang, The Breast, and The Great American Novel -- show a writer with sufficient power to do whatever he wants in the act of squandering his time and talent on farcical stuff that doesn't add up to much. But then something happens. Roth pens Zuckerman Unbound, a trilogy and epilogue of metafictional novels featuring Roth doppelganger Nathan Zuckerman. Roth is still not afraid to transgress, but now it's to more serious ends, and the work still holds up today. Novels and Other Narratives 1986-1991 represents the period immediately following Zuckerman Unbound. Here we see the beginning of Roth's transformation from literary provocateur to literary master in The Counterlife, and from aging adolescent to grownup in the nonfiction narratives, particularly in Patrimony, which is a forthright wrestling with his father's death. These books prefigure Roth's greatest achievement, the run of Sabbath's Theater, American Pastoral, I Married a Communist, and The Human Stain, the first two of which might likely be the most accomplished works of fiction of the century's last twenty-five years. Reading them together and in order for the first time, in addition to being a deeply pleasurable experience, has been an education in how a good writer teaches himself, mid-career and book-by-book, to become a great writer.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Collection From One of the Major Living Writers, February 2, 2009

By	Sacramento Book Review "SacramentoBookReview.com" (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews

The Modern Library continues its collection of the works of Philip Roth, with four novels, three of which are part of the "Roth books", novelizations of Roth's life. The books reprinted are The Counterlife (1986), The Facts: A Novelist's Autobiography (1988), Deception (1990), and Patrimony: A True Story (1991). The last three are the Roth books, with The Facts being Roth's memoir, told through his alter ego, Nathan Zuckerman; "Deception" being a novel of adultery told by "Philip," a writer that writes about a character named Zuckerman; and Patrimony, where Roth tells the story of his father's battle with a brain tumor. Roth is one of the major living writers, and with John Ashbery, is the only living author who's work is being reprinted by the Library of America.