The Crisis Of Identity In Philip Roth's Fiction

Philip Roth (1933- ) is one of the most important writers in contemporary American literature. In the 1990s Philip Roth won America's four major literary awards in succession: the National Book Critics Circle Award for Patrimony (1991), the PEN/Faulkner Award for Operation Shylock (1993), the National Book Award for Sabbath's Theater (1995), and the Pulitzer Prize in fiction for American Pastoral (1997). He won the Ambassador Book Award of the English-Speaking Union for I Married a Communist (1998); in the same year he received the National Medal of Arts at the White House. Previously he won the National Book Critics Circle Award for The Counterlife (1986) and the National Book Award for his first book, Goodbye, Columbus (1959). He was nominated for the 2000 Nobel Prize for Literature, which has proved that he is one of the most important writers in contemporary American literature.Philip Roth has produced more than twenty novels and at the same time has been controversial. He is the great chronicler of second and third generation American Jews. These Jewish immigrants have received the shock of both Jewish traditional culture and American culture. On one hand, the melting features have made them assimilated and Americanized; on the other hand, they have felt a loss of Jewish identity and a strong sense of alienation and rejection.This dissertation analyzes Roth's understanding and illustration of one of the controversial issues for contemporary American Jews, namely, "What is a Jew". It also expounds Roth's understanding and construction of cultural identity so as to analyze the crisis of identity caused by the shock of dominant white culture upon Jewish culture.The thesis consists of five sections:Section 1: Introduction: The Problem of Crisis of American Jews. This part first introduces the controversial issue of "Who is a Jew". Then it discusses the traditional definition and practice of Jewish identity, the problems resulted from theReform, and the complexity of assimilation. Therefore this part expounds the dilemma of identity faced by American Jews in a multicultural context.Section 2: Philip Roth and American Jewish Literary Tradition. This chapter mainly discusses Roth's relation with American Jewish Literary Tradition and Roth's definition of a contemporary Jew. Different from other American Jewish writers, Roth is the chronicler of second and third generation Jewish immigrants. With his unique narrative voice, his ironic depiction, and his portrayal of contemporary reality, Roth explores the moral complexities of modern experience and becomes a major voice in contemporary American literature.Section 3: Philip Roth's Explorations of American Jewish Identity. This part is composed of two themes: Roth's quest for Jewish ethnic self and Roth's search for American Jewish identity. It's mainly about Roth's presentation of the American Jewish dilemma, his understanding of contemporary Jewish life, his reexamination of the nature of Jews, and his exploration of American Jewish identity.Section 4: Criticism of Philip Roth. In this section, the author first discusses the different reactions to Roth writing, which are from Jewish communal leaders, from literary critics and from other writers. Many people show disproval and even attack of Roth's writing, while some hold a positive view toward him. Besides, the author also analyzes the omniscient theme of transgression in Roth's novels of different stages, and concludes that the tensions between subcultural and mainstream experience are at the core of each of his novels.Section 5: Conclusion. As an American Jewish writer, Roth's central concern is the ongoing problem of cultural assimilation. He uses ethnicity as a framework or context to portray contemporary reality, and has been searching for the essence of Jewish identity in his unique narrative voice.