Pat,
I am truly sorry that my last quiz remained unsolved and that I disappointed you. It might have been easier and faster - thpugh not as much fun - if I had mentioned that the author has used an alter ego in several of his novels.
There is a great deal of material about Philip Roth and his work s hat I can talk about my hughts of his work and how it has affected e.
The book is The Human Stain; the third volume of a trilogy. The first and second volumes are I Married A Communist and American Pastoral. . Roth has been described as a "masterful chronicler ot the American century", and he has done so with an extraordinary sensibility, portraying fictional characters and the times i which they lived. It has also been said that many novels are semi-autobiographical, and he cerss in discussing some delicate and personal issues in at least one of his books, Portnoy's Complaint ,which caysed a big controversy. H
For the sake of good order, let me add that I Married a Communist recalls the shameful McCarthy era, while American Pastoral and The Human Stain were written in the nineties. BYW American Pastoral is not set in a bucolic elysium and the title is pure irony.
Many of Roth's characters are Jewish, as is he. He is autely aware of his Jewishness and of being a minority, but his work is important for all mankind, for under the skin we are all alike in our virtues and vices.
The Human stain was conceived at a time when the nation struggled with the knowledge of a stain on a blue dress on a blue dress and the political implications. A sense of outrage s palpable in the book.
The story is told in flashbacks by the one loyal friend of Colman Silk, a professor at a second-tier college in New England. He is 71 und becoming grumpy. He is annoyed that two students who had signed up for his seminar never showed up ad asking for them he refers to them as "spooks", and i offends the two students who happen to be back.All ell breaks loose. In the midst of it Colman Silk's wife dies.
Silk's troubles are compounded by the fact that he has been harboring a deep dark secret for decades : he was born black. In his youth, when he signed up for the Marines, he passed as white and decided to declare himself Jewish. Neither his Jewish wife nor his four children were ever informed of their black ancestry.white Then Colman silk meets a young woman, less than half his age, whose husband returned from Vietnam a different man, one who beats her. Silk and Fauna, the woman, have moments of happiness.but there is no happy end. There are long philosophical discussions between Silk and his old friend, and one extraordinary scene of the two old men dancing in the moonlight, which is almost unbearably moving.
I have enjoyed this book and hope my lengthy comments reflect that feeling. Thank you,
