Zuckerman bound: A Trilogy and Epilogue 1979-1985

About this book

For the last half century the novels of Philip Roth have re-energized American fiction and redefined its possibilities leading the critic Harold Bloom to proclaim Roth "our foremost novelist since Faulkner." Roths comic genius his imaginative daring his courage in exploring uncomfortable truths and his assault on political cultural and sexual orthodoxies have made him one of the essential writers of our time. By special arrangement with the author The Library of America continues the definitive edition of Roths collected works. This fourth volume presents the trilogy and epilogue that constitute Zuckerman Bound (1985) Roths wholly original investigation into the unforeseen consequences of art-mainly in libertarian America and then by contrast in Soviet-suppressed Eastern Europe-during the latter half of the twentieth century. The Ghost Writer (1979) introduces Nathan Zuckerman in the 1950s a budding writer infatuated with the Great Books discovering the contradictory claims of literature and experience while an overnight guest in the secluded New England farmhouse of his literary idol E. I. Lonoff. Zuckerman Unbound (1981) finds him far from Lonoffs domain-the scene is Manhattan as the sensationalizing 1960s are coming to an end. Zuckerman in his mid-thirties is suffering the immediate aftershock of literary celebrity. The high-minded protg of E. I. Lonoff has become a notorious superstar. The Anatomy Lesson (1984) takes place largely in the hospital isolation ward that Zuckerman has made of his Upper East Side apartment. It is Watergate time 1973 and to Zuckerman the only other American who seems to be in as much trouble as himself is Richard Nixon. Zuckerman at forty is beset with crippling and unexplained physical pain; he wonders if the cause might not be his own inflammatory work. In The Prague Orgy (1985) entries from Zuckermans notebooks describing his 1976 sojourn among the outcast artists of Soviet-occupied Czechoslovakia reveal the major theme of Zuckerman Bound from a new perspective that provides the stinging conclusion to this richly ironic and intricately designed magnum opus. As an added feature this volume publishes for the first time Roths unproduced television screenplay for The Prague Orgy featuring new characters and scenes that do not appear in the novella. LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nations literary heritage by publishing and keeping permanently in print Americas best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date authoritative editions that average 1 000 pages in length feature cloth covers sewn bindings and ribbon markers and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.