Present Books Supposing The Human Stain (The American Trilogy #3)
| Original Title: | The Human Stain |
| ISBN: | 0099282194 (ISBN13: 9780099282198) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | The American Trilogy #3, Complete Nathan Zuckerman #8 |
| Characters: | Coleman Silk, Nathan Zuckerman, Faunia Farley |
| Literary Awards: | PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction (2001), WH Smith Literary Award (2001), Prix Médicis Etranger (2002), Koret Jewish Book Award for Fiction (2001), IMPAC Award Nominee (2002) |
Philip Roth
Paperback | Pages: 361 pages Rating: 3.88 | 32445 Users | 2128 Reviews
Rendition Concering Books The Human Stain (The American Trilogy #3)
It is 1998, the year in which America is whipped into a frenzy of prurience by the impeachment of a president, and in a small New England town an aging Classics professor, Coleman Silk, is forced to retire when his colleagues decree that he is a racist. The charge is a lie, but the real truth about Silk would astonish even his most virulent accuser.Coleman Silk has a secret, one which has been kept for fifty years from his wife, his four children, his colleagues, and his friends, including the writer Nathan Zuckerman. It is Zuckerman who stumbles upon Silk's secret and sets out to reconstruct the unknown biography of this eminent, upright man, esteemed as an educator for nearly all his life, and to understand how this ingeniously contrived life came unraveled. And to understand also how Silk's astonishing private history is, in the words of the Wall Street Journal, "magnificently" interwoven with "the larger public history of modern America."
List Appertaining To Books The Human Stain (The American Trilogy #3)
| Title | : | The Human Stain (The American Trilogy #3) |
| Author | : | Philip Roth |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 361 pages |
| Published | : | April 5th 2001 by Vintage (first published May 2000) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Novels. Literature. American |
Rating Appertaining To Books The Human Stain (The American Trilogy #3)
Ratings: 3.88 From 32445 Users | 2128 ReviewsCriticism Appertaining To Books The Human Stain (The American Trilogy #3)
THINGS I LIKED ABOUT The Human Stain1. The amazing language. Philip Roth has such an amazing vocabulary, first off. Every word he uses seems painstakingly chosen and every sentence carefully constructed. Honestly, the writing itself is what kept me interested.2. The idea of the educational playing field being decimated by politics. My favorite sections of the book were the few scenes that took place on campus.3. I liked the parallels between Coleman and Clinton. Very clever. The title alone gave[warning: spoiler!]The thing that attracts me about this novel is quite simply how it is told. The narrator, Nathan Zuckerman, is also a character (albeit a relatively minor one although he grows in importance as the story continues). He is not, therefore, omniscient, although this becomes easy to forget. The novel is written as though he were omniscient, and then draws attention to this gap repeatedly at moments where Zuckerman explains who told him what, how he knows certain bits of
Mr. Roth,Your banal prose and elementary gimmicks do nothing to endear yourself to me, sir. If, in the future, a thought flies into your head and you would like to put it down on paper, I would first suggest that you hide or burn every John Updike novel you've been petting to sleep each night, get yourself a fistful of fresh adjectives, and wipe your nose. Far too much of you gets onto the page, sir, and none of it is to your credit.Many people are impressed because you wrote American Pastoral.
The only Roth I'd ever read was Portnoy, back when it came out (practically), and the Plot Against America - which didn't impress me at all. So I came to this book, which I listened to on audible, with a prejudice against Roth. I didn't like him, thought he was a fake, he didn't "look" like much of a writer to me, etc. etc. I probably wouldn't have gotten very far if I had been reading -- listening being a very different experience. (I do so much driving, that I listen to these things in
The Human Stain is a schizophrenic, if not unevenly written novel. It is as though it is written by different people, with variable success. While there is a central narrator, Nathan Zuckerman, through whose eyes and ears, we learn about the anti-hero Coleman Silk, there are different voices that make up the whole story. The most annoying one is the ranter, who keeps going on and on about Bill Clinton and his sexual indiscretions. The tirades are tiresome and irrelevant to the plot. The other
Hey Roth, I know you have a great vocabulary...Just tell me a damn story. Let me explain: I just read a very positive review of this book stating that Roth has such an expansive vocabulary, and every word seems painstakingly chosen, etc. That is exactly what I hate about this book! A narrative is supposed to flow, not make you resolve to study the dictionary more fastidiously. For the record, I have a pretty good vocabulary and I thorouoghly enjoy creative uses of the English language. But I
Roth's Human StainIn a long writing career, Philip Roth has progressively deepened his themes and his understanding of human character as well as his skill at the novelist's craft. His novel, "The Human Stain" is both entertaining and thought-provoking. It is a worthy addition to American fiction of the early 21st century. The title of the book sets forth its primary theme. A major part of human life is tied to human sexuality and to physicality. People ignore or downplay this aspect at their
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