Reading Roth Reading Roth (Paperback)

Twice in his career Roth has oriented his readers by interpreting and evaluating his work to date - first through "Reading Myself and Others" and then through "A Philip Roth Reader", selected and edited by Roth himself. More recently, Roth seems to have re-read and reassessed his work suggesting on the first pages of his latest books his own categorization of his literary work. Assuming that Roth did not know then where his career was heading or how it might acquire a different, or fuller, shape, I intend to revise our understanding of the early Roth, as interpreted by Roth himself, in the perspective of the later Roth. The fact is that, unlike the early Roth, the later Roth has developed a much more comprehensive and international perspective. After focusing on "Reading Myself and Others" against Roth's more recent work, this study suggests A [new] Philip Roth Reader by balancing and/or correcting the author's early guidelines to his oeuvre.