Between Reality And Utopia

Philip Milton Roth is one of the most important Jewish American novelists since the 1950s. As a prolific novelist, Roth has written more than twenty fictions, which can be grouped into four series:(1) Zuckerman novels; (2) Roth novels; (3) Kepesh novels; (4) other novels. The novel Everyman (2006), a saga of human body, won Roth his third PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction in 2007. The nameless protagonist was buried in the very beginning of this novel. His life is a history of frequent hospitalization, accompanied with three divorces and several love affairs. Another novel Indignation (2008) is about a series of conflicts between a 19-year-old Jewish boy and his family, roommates and the dean.Individual identity and dilemma are recurrent.themes of Roth's novels. Researches about Roth's earlier works have given this characteristic its due attention. But until now there is no special study of the dilemma theme in Everyman and Indignation. Based on the Philip Roth study in China and the English-speaking world in the last decades, this paper chooses Everyman and Indignation as research subjects and focuses on the individual-society relationship in these two novels. This study is largely inspired by the literary criticism of Ross Posnock ("the art of immaturity") and the sociological idea of Norbert Elias ("We-I Balance"). By analyzing the social context, plot and characterization of these two novels, this thesis is centered on the theme of individual dilemma. The paper argues that these two recent novels of Philip Roth reveal the individual dilemma between reality and utopia. Philip Roth does not only construct a utopia of the individual, but also deconstruct it in the protagonists'tragedies. That reveals the realism tendency of Philip Roth's writing in recent years.The Introduction is about Philip Roth the writer and the present Roth study. The stories of Everyman and Indignation and related criticism are introduced. The statement, framework and theoretical basis of the thesis are also presented in this part. The main body of this paper consists of four parts. Chapter One is a brief study of the social context of conformity and transgression. Chapter Two to Chapter Four respectively studies the anti-religion, anti-morality and anti-socialization characteristics of the protagonists. Study in these chapters shows how the individual in modern American society is forced to construct his own utopia while that utopia is not allowed in reality. The Conclusion is a review of the main idea of this paper:the individual is stuck between reality and utopia. As an attempt to understand two recent novels of Philip Roth, this thesis is an original work in American literature study. It is hoped that this paper can be helpful in understanding contemporary American culture and reflecting the living situation and destiny of "everyman".