A Study Of Philip Roth's The American Trilogy From The Posthumanistic Perspective

Philip Roth, a prolific and celebrated American writer of novels and short stories, mainly concerns himself with the contemporary existence of the people of his times. His writings mostly center on familial, social, political issues in America, on psychological conflicts and existential crisis experienced by American people and on the reconstruction of a posthuman being to ensure the meaningful human existence for man. His The American Trilogy is generally considered to be the"problem novels"by critics. In The American Trilogy, Roth expresses his despair of the existence of man who has been fragmented and alienated in the post-industrial and capitalistic society. He also tries to change the degraded human existence by creating a new man, a posthuman being who can keep harmony with nature, being equal to non-human and pursuing the healthy human nature. In doing so Roth has made abundantly clear that he values posthumanistic ideas.This thesis tries to approach Philip Roth's The American Trilogy from the perspective of posthumanism. The thesis discusses Philip Roth's idea of how man has been reduced to"producing machines"and"consumption machines"and of how man has been made fragmented and alienated by the politics, governments and science and technology that have made his reduction, fragmentation and alienation possible. The thesis also attempts to illustrate that Roth places hope on the new man, a posthuman being,to ensure a healthy human existence. In the thesis,the theory of posthumansim is used, the theory of humanism is compared and the textual analysis is employed to argue that Philip Roth is the man who worries about the present human existence and who also shows a strong posthumanistic concern about the man. The thesis falls into five chapters. Chapter One is the introduction. Chapter Two discusses posthumanism, a new era for human being. Chapter Three elaborates on the end of the traditional man with the focus on Roth's efforts to deconstruct humanism. Chapter Four deals with the emergence of a posthuman being with the exploration on Roth's efforts to save human being. Chapter Five is the conclusion.