Myth And Archetypal Analysis Of Philip Roth’s Nemesis

Philip Roth is a Jewish American writer. He has written for almost half a century and produced many masterpieces. He is not only prolific, but also reshapes his writing style all the time, trying hands on realistic, modernist, and post-modernist writings. Nemesis receives many favorable views as soon as it was published. J.M. Coetzee takes it as “An artfully constructed, suspenseful novel with a cunning twist towards the end.”(Roth, 2010:281)In Nemesis, there are obvious archetypal characters, themes, plots, as well as images. And many reviewers mention the archetypes in Nemesis. Kirkus Reviews mentions that Nemesis is the retelling story of Job. Edward Dox and Nicholas Lezard both maintain one of the themes of Nemesis is fate. However, no one has made a systematic study on how these archetypes are conveyed in Nemesis. Therefore, this thesis will explore it with myth and archetypal criticism as the theoretical base.The thesis will analyze archetypal characters, themes, the U plot, and images in Nemesis and show how they are represented by Roth. By applying archetypes in Nemesis, Roth tends to arouse echoes with readers and heal the trauma left by the Holocaust. Seen through myth and archetypal criticism, Nemesis proves that Roth is a universal writer with humanity. The archetypes in Nemesis are the heritage of art, which embody Roth’s literary ability, and the aesthetics of literature as well.