The Americanized Jewishness In Philip Roth's Fiction

Among those literary studies of Philip Roth's fiction, Jewishness is not a subject to be discussed much. One of the reasons is that as an ethnic term, Jewishness is ambiguous in perception. As Roth persists with his American stance in interviews, literary discussions on his Jewishness seems to be more ambiguous, with few critics actually touching on this subject in their studies. Nevertheless, considering the fact that Roth actually devotes his whole life writing with the subject of American Jewish life, so long as Roth does not deny his Jewish root, there is a Jewishness that exists in his fiction which best reflects his ethnic ethos as well as the characteristic position he holds as a Jew and American writer. In analyzing Roth's literary works in late-twentieth century, namely, Portnoy's Complaint, Zuckerman Bound (a quartet), The Counterlife and The American Pastoral, this thesis aims to put forward the idea that the Jewishness exhibited in these works is an Americanized Jewishness.To explore this Americanized Jewishness, this thesis focuses on four aspects of Jewishness. They are Jewish notion of sex, Jewish sense of allegiance, Jewish self-identity, and Jewish social assimilation. Chapter one analyzes Portnoy's sex adventure and sex narrative in order to explore the perplexity Portnoy feels as a Jew and an American. Chapter two deals with the contradiction in allegiance an ethnic writer encounters if he endeavors to become an autonomous artist with mature moral judgment. Chapter three argues about the possibility of a multiform of Jewish identity in testing the free spirit of living as an American Jew. While the last chapter focuses on the disillusionment of Jewish assimilation dream, which intends to reveal the introspection Swede Levov makes into his self-transformation.As the analysis reveals, the Americanized Jewishness in Roth's writings exhibits the evolution of Jewishness in contemporary American social context. It retains the basic elements of Jewish ethos, which simultaneously absorbs certain ideologies of American thoughts. It is individual-oriented, expressing individual self-consciousness rather than the traditional community-bound collective Jewish consciousness. It springs from the board of American Jewish history rather than from the bitter Jewish history in the past. It is also the Jewishness which demonstrates the impact of American thoughts, such as sense ofautonomy, demand for personal freedom, and pro-liberal life attitude toward theconsciousness and actual deeds of those American Jewish people. Contradictory as it is,this Americanized Jewishness develops itself in real life clashes and in American Jewishpeople's self-introspection into American Jewish present and Jewish past.In exploring the Americanized Jewishness as reflected in Roth's writings, this thesistakes a thematic approach in analyzing the Jewish elements which are affected byAmerican ideologies. With the help of literary theories such as psychoanalysis criticism,ethic studies, sociological studies with regard to ethnic identity and social assimilation, aswell as postmodern narrative theories, this thesis intends to carry a thorough analysis of theAmericanized Jewishness in Roth's literary representations and to obtain a comprehensiveunderstanding of the evolution of Jewishness in contemporary American society.With these arguments about the Americanized Jewishness in Roth's fiction, this thesisaims to contribute to the study of Philip Roth in terms of his ethnicity. Although theexploration of Jewishness sounds sensitive to ethnic writers like Philip Roth, this study ishelpful to readers who feel fascinated with the ethnic elements which endow Roth's fictionwith a distinct flavor. The identification of the Americanized Jewishness in Roth's literarywritings could not only provide a new perspective in perceiving Roth's fiction, to someextent, it could also help to clarify the confusion among Chinese readers who misinterpretthe ethnic involvement in Roth's depiction of American Jewish predicaments as the generalsocial problems in America. In doing so, I hope this thesis could enrich the study of Roth'sfiction in China.