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American Pastoral, by Philip Roth

1999; Purdue University Press; Volume: 18; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

1534-5165

Jay L,

American Jewish Fiction Analysis

American Pastoral, by Philip RothPhilip Roth continues to astonish us. His originality and creativity seem boundless, as much of his recent work attests, including American Pastoral, his most powerful novel to date. If there was ever any question that he ranks with Saul Bellow as among American's most distinguished writers, all doubts now cease.American Pastoral astonishes in ways quite different from flamboyance of Portnoy's Complaint, post-modernism of Counterlife, audacity of Operation Shylock, or outraging, death-drenched Sabbath's Theater, which immediately preceded it and gave no clue at all to what was coming next (as Operation Shylock hardly anticipated Sabbath's Theater). American Pastoral is different from all of these books, as from such lesser works as Our Gang or Great American Novel, not only in its remarkable quasi-Faulknerian style but also and most particularly in depths that Roth plumbs. Never before quite so deeply and thoughtfully, in this novel Roth bares Jewish (and non-Jewish) middle-class American soul as it has evolved in second half of this century as no one has done before -- including John Updike, with whose Rabbit novels Roth's Pastoral has been compared. Roth uncovers is enough to make even strongest among us shudder and, with Seymour Levov, Roth's protagonist, exclaim, What have I done?The narrative structure of novel is not very complicated, although it is not until second half that all pieces fit together for an overwhelming effect. Once again, Roth resorts to his surrogate, Nathan Zuckerman, to tell story, though let no one be deceived: this is pure Roth, and vintage Roth, too. At his forty-fifth Weequahic High School reunion in Newark, NJ -- year is 1995 -- Nathan runs into a classmate, Jerry, younger brother of Seymour The Levov, himself a successful, brash cardiac surgeon now living in Miami. Jerry tums up only because he is on his way back from his brother's funeral -- a fact that surprises Zuckerman, who had recently been in touch with Swede, a legend in his own time (as saying goes) for all those who attended Weequahic in years after World War II. Nicknamed the because of his fair good looks, blue eyes, and height, he was everything Jerry is not: a modest, self-effacing, three-letter varsity athlete, outstanding U.S. marine, and college graduate who fell in love with and married his classmate -- Mary Dawn Dwyer, Miss New Jersey of 1949 -- he was also a loyal son and devoted husband and father. In short, Swede was embodiment in almost every respect of all-American male, for whom one success seemed to lead only to another.After taking over his father's flourishing glove-making business, Swede settled his wife and young daughter, Meredith, in a 150-year-old farmhouse in rural Old Rimrock, Morris County, NJ, a beautiful idyllic setting where he had longed to live ever since childhood. There he helps his wife successfully begin raising cattle while he continues to work in central Newark, even as other glovemakers and manufacturers begin to flee city and country for more profitable and safer venues elsewhere. only cloud overshadowing his and his wife's early bliss seems to be their daughter Merry's terrible stutter, cause of which is unknown and cure almost entirely elusive, despite best efforts of Sheila Salzman, Merry's speech therapist.Whatever it is that underlies Merry's stutter also apparently motivates her rebellious teenage behavior that culminates early one morning in bombing of village general store and post office and accidental death of a much loved local physician. year is 1968, and Merry becomes a fugitive, going underground for five years. During this period she becomes responsible for more bombings and deaths of three more persons, as she tells her shocked and disconsolate father when he finally finds her once again in New Jersey. …