I've not read much of Philip Roth's works. I read Portnoy's Complaint not long after it was published, and must confess that, as a horny early twentysomething, I took some pleasure in its misogyny. I think if I read it now I wouldn't enjoy it. Later in life I read The Ghost Writer, in which the protagonist, Roth's literary alter ego Zuckerman, becomes obsessed with a young woman he is convinced is really Anne Frank, who somehow managed to survive. It left me feeling vaguely uneasy.
For a long time I've been troubled by the overt antisemitism expressed in a few of T.S. Eliot's poems, and by F. Scott Fitzgerald at the conclusion of The Great Gatsby. There are other hard cases, for example, the fascism of Ezra Pound and of William Butler Yeats. I don't think these writers should be "cancelled." I think the hysteria over "cancel culture," as evinced by the recent brouhaha over the withdrawal of four Dr. Seuss books from publication, is silly. I'm planning to write more on this subject soon.
Let’s not forget, though, that there are plenty of young women students who are eager for sexual relationships with their professors. I’ve supported feminist causes throughout my adult life, but I can’t agree with a certain type of bitter feminist Puritanism that assumes ALL such relationships are somehow coerced by the male professors, and that the young women are always helpless victims.
This take is so brilliant, and as a bonus carries a subtle message: "Not all old white dudes are misogynists." And the good ones can see it as clearly as oil in sand. You should know: one of the survivors texted me this article this morning. We read it together, and we nearly squealed the the 'orange feminist prison jumpsuit'. It matters for us to see "the old guard" writing things like this. Thank you.
Aren't you the least bit embarrassed by an essay that dismisses a major write solely on the basis of his sex life without one syllable on the literary merit of his work? Truly pathetic.
Lately, I've been thinking about the great artist/terrible person conundrum, although I alluded to it some years ago here: https://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com/2008/05/so-just-what-is-art-anyway.html
I've not read much of Philip Roth's works. I read Portnoy's Complaint not long after it was published, and must confess that, as a horny early twentysomething, I took some pleasure in its misogyny. I think if I read it now I wouldn't enjoy it. Later in life I read The Ghost Writer, in which the protagonist, Roth's literary alter ego Zuckerman, becomes obsessed with a young woman he is convinced is really Anne Frank, who somehow managed to survive. It left me feeling vaguely uneasy.
For a long time I've been troubled by the overt antisemitism expressed in a few of T.S. Eliot's poems, and by F. Scott Fitzgerald at the conclusion of The Great Gatsby. There are other hard cases, for example, the fascism of Ezra Pound and of William Butler Yeats. I don't think these writers should be "cancelled." I think the hysteria over "cancel culture," as evinced by the recent brouhaha over the withdrawal of four Dr. Seuss books from publication, is silly. I'm planning to write more on this subject soon.
Let’s not forget, though, that there are plenty of young women students who are eager for sexual relationships with their professors. I’ve supported feminist causes throughout my adult life, but I can’t agree with a certain type of bitter feminist Puritanism that assumes ALL such relationships are somehow coerced by the male professors, and that the young women are always helpless victims.
It’s Judith Thurman not Thurmond
This take is so brilliant, and as a bonus carries a subtle message: "Not all old white dudes are misogynists." And the good ones can see it as clearly as oil in sand. You should know: one of the survivors texted me this article this morning. We read it together, and we nearly squealed the the 'orange feminist prison jumpsuit'. It matters for us to see "the old guard" writing things like this. Thank you.
Philip Roth is clearly a complete and total ASSHOLE. I have never felt drawn to read any of his work, and now I know why.
Aren't you the least bit embarrassed by an essay that dismisses a major write solely on the basis of his sex life without one syllable on the literary merit of his work? Truly pathetic.
Some people don't know the difference between fact and fiction. And, seediness is part of life. Shall we cancel it all?