Special Issue: Philip Roth's America

For an upcoming special issue of _Studies in American Jewish Literature_
(slotted for 2004), I am seeking critical essays devoted to Philip
Roth's recent exploration of American life in the last half of the
20th-century. This "American trilogy," as it has been called by his
publisher, includes the novels _American Pastoral_, _I Married a
Communist_, and _The Human Stain_. Consideration may also be given to
essays focusing on his other later works, such as _Sabbath's Theatre_
and _The Dying Animal_, but ONLY as they relate to Roth's recent
socio-historical articulation of American identity. Topics for
consideration might include:

- Roth's perspective on 1960s radicalism and its legacy
- The question over Roth's "conservatism" in _American Pastoral_
- Identity politics within post-WW II America
- McCarthyism and political correctness
- Fictions of dissent
- America at the end of the millennium
- The (narrative) construction of an American identity, especially as it
relates to ethnoracial issues
- Roth's critique of American exceptionalism, the American dream,
self-reliance, and "the pastoral"
- Political theory and the role of literature
- Roth's place as a chronicler of contemporary American life

Essays should be approximately 5000 words, received by 1 July 2003, and
can be either emailed (as an attached Word file) or snail mailed to:

Derek P. Royal
The Philip Roth Society
Dept. of Languages and Communications
Prairie View A&M University
roth_society_at_pvamu.edu
http://rothsociety.org
Phone: 936-857-2229 Fax: 936-857-2309

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Received on Sat Feb 15 2003 - 23:06:07 EST