Explore Jewish Identity

Philip Roth, who is one of the important Jewish writers in contemporary American literature, has created a multitude of works, most of which have emerged a great influence, during his almost 40 years' literary life. It has been found that his creation on novels often outpours his betray and evasion to his Jewish identity in most of his early novels. Nevertheless, such creative style has made a subtle change at the end of the 1980s. We could easily find that his novel The Counterlife turns out a transitional significance during his creative process. Then, this thesis makes a textual analysis on this work, which was created by Roth at the end of 1980s, and attempts to reveal the writer's change on creation by making a comparison between the geographical background, the characters and the theme of this novel and those in Roth's early novels. However, this change should be based on Roth's awaking of Jewish awareness and exploration on Jewish identity of American Jews.