Relentlessly, with strong points and subtle humility, I have advanced an argument that christens Philip Roth as America's best author and perhaps America's only remaining remaining novelist. Yet I don't want to be a sheepish follower of Roth work. I want someone in the contemporary know to dissuade me from my Roth thesis and shed light on some other literature akin to Roth's style. Someone needs to act as my in. I don't like commercial writers, so please don't mention, even though you are entitled to, the likes of Grisham and Patterson and Baldacci.
But let me explain why I like Roth. He embezzles into his work brave concepts that other writers avoid. Roth discusses the fallacies of marriage and a variety of other institutional ideas that stem from governments. Roth is a rebel. Everything commonplace and perpetuated by the American beast is disproved by Roth. The eclectic characters in his novel encircle the plot and serve to counter what the establishment manufactures. He argues against capitalism, fascism and socialism. He gravitates toward neutrality, which I like. When he says, "Nothing keeps its promise," I tend to agree. Roth promotes what I find self-evidently true: the disorder of it all....
Can anyone suggest a contemporary who parallels this style?
But let me explain why I like Roth. He embezzles into his work brave concepts that other writers avoid. Roth discusses the fallacies of marriage and a variety of other institutional ideas that stem from governments. Roth is a rebel. Everything commonplace and perpetuated by the American beast is disproved by Roth. The eclectic characters in his novel encircle the plot and serve to counter what the establishment manufactures. He argues against capitalism, fascism and socialism. He gravitates toward neutrality, which I like. When he says, "Nothing keeps its promise," I tend to agree. Roth promotes what I find self-evidently true: the disorder of it all....
Can anyone suggest a contemporary who parallels this style?