A Neo-realistic Reading Of The Human Stain

Philip Roth is an outstanding writer in American literary world, as well as in theliterary arena of the world. As a third generation representative of Jewish writers, hehas engaged himself in deep exploration of the postwar decades in the second half ofthe20th century and focused much on the status quo of Jews’ life in America. TheHuman Stain is the last of his “American Trilogy”, which is regarded as the mostcomplicated one as well. This novel won Roth PEN/Faulkner Award in2001and theNabokov Award in2006. In The Human Stain, Roth depicts an African American’sordeal in his whole life, which differs from Roth’s former works that center much onJewish people. Since its publication, this novel has stired much debate in the academicworld. Many critics have discussed the novel’s themes, writing techniques and genre.Some critics even conduct a comparartive study with other novels. As a representativeof Philip Roth’s later works, this novel embodies many characteristics of neo-realism.However, for a long time, the neo-realistic study about this novel has rarely beencarried out.Applying the neo-realistic perspective which has sprung up since1970s in theAmerican literature, this thesis contrives to probe into the neo-realistic themes,new-realistic characteristics under typical circumstances as well as the neo-realisticwriting techniques applied in The Human Stain so as to complement the study of thisnovel, aiming to present a more complete and stereoscopic understanding of the novel,and to guide us to comprehend Roth’s later realistic works as well as the developmentof serious neo-realistic literature in western world with ease.