Claudia Roth Pierpont

This is a collection of remarks delivered at a birthday tribute for Philip Roth in 2013. It was a bit of lagniappe through my Library of America subscription, and I read it to see what admirers from the world of literature and philosophy had to say about Roth's work. I came away with a grudging acceptance of the fact that I probably am missing something, that Roth's body of work is more significant than its individual parts might suggest...but not with any desire to read further of Zuckerman show more or Sabbath. Roth's own comments at the event, which concludes this slim volume, annoyed me as much as anything else of his I've read. He just isn't talking to me. So, as my beautiful 18-month-old grandniece is fond of saying, I am, as far as Roth is concerned, emphatically "Done!". I did learn that he loves Faulkner. Well, good.
Review written in 2014 show less

Relatively few writers use details from their personal lives in their fiction more than Philip Roth does in his. And that is exactly what makes Claudia Roth Pierpont’s Roth Unbound: A Writer and His Books so potentially fascinating.

Roth Unbound is not as much biography as it is literary criticism of one man’s entire writing career. Book by book, Pierpont examines everything written by Roth, from his best known and most successful novels, to his lesser known and least successful ones. show more What’s more, despite being a personal friend of Roth’s for a decade or so, Pierpont pulls no punches. She points out very clearly what she considers to be problems with many of his books and, in each of these instances, provides a detailed argument to build her case.

Readers hoping for details about Roth’s personal life, including how he constructs his novels and comes up with his plot lines will not be disappointed. Pierpont ‘s access to Roth, and his apparent willingness to share intimate details of his past with her for the book, exposes Roth’s past to much second-guessing on the part of readers and critics, alike. It is all part of what makes Philip Roth and his books so special to so many people, but it is also what makes certain segments of society (feminists, in particular) dislike him so intensely.

Although I own the entire Library of America collection of Roth’s work, I have not read all of his books yet, and frankly, if I were a reader new to Philip Roth, Roth Unbound might not encourage me to read them at all. Pierpont is just that honest and revealing about the shortcomings of some of Roth’s writing, books in which he was still struggling to find his voice or with which he somehow went completely off track. But she is quick to praise the brilliance of his best work and Roth, after all, is one of the finest and most important writers of the last sixty years.

So, do read Philip Roth. Use Roth Unbound to get some insight into the man who wrote the books, what was going on in his life when he wrote them, and into the books themselves. This is an excellent addition to the personal library of any reader of twentieth and twenty-first century fiction. show less

This was an impulse buy some years ago that has been gathering dust on a bookcase. I finally got around to reading it and I'm so glad I did, as it was terrific! The book consists of short biographies/essays on the literary contributions of a diverse group of 20th century women writers, including Gertrude Stein, Hannah Arendt, Anais Nin, Zora Neale Hurston, Doris Lessing, Ayn Rand and others. The essays were universally fascinating (Rand was less of a kook than I had thought, Margaret show more Mitchell, Arendt and Lessing were every but as problematic in their personal lives as Hemingway, Eliot and Pound) and I have added at least a dozen books to my list of things to read right now. The writing is sharp, it moves at a clip and no more than 30 pages are devoted to any one author (i.e. it's perfect for those of us who like a focused, cohesive discussion of an author's work rather than meaningless biographical details). Loved it. show less

One of the most fascinating books I've ever read. A heady mix of critical essay and biography -- these portraits of 12 extraordinary women writers -- thorns and all. A great book.
-- Michael