Everything is over for Simon Axler, the protagonist of Philip Roth’s startling new book. One of the leading American stage actors of his generation, now in his sixties, he has lost his magic, his talent, and his assurance. His Falstaff and Peer Gynt and Vanya, all his great roles, are melted into air, into thin air. When he goes onstage he feels like a lunatic and looks like an idiot. His confidence in his powers has drained away; he imagines people laughing at him; he can no longer pretend to be someone else. Something fundamental has vanished. His wife has gone, his audience has left him, his agent can’t persuade him to make a comeback. Into this shattering account of inexplicable and terrifying self-evacuation bursts a counterplot of unusual erotic desire, a consolation for a bereft life so risky and aberrant that it points not toward comfort and gratification but to a yet darker and more shocking end. In this long day’s journey into night, told with Roth’s inimitable urgency, bravura, and gravity, all the ways that we convince ourselves of our solidity, all our life’s performances talent, love, sex, hope, energy, reputation are stripped off.
The Humbling
$4.99
SKU
EBP-1868028
Categories 20th Century, American, Contemporary, Fiction, Literary, Psychological, Romance, World Literature
About Author | Philip Milton Roth was an American novelist. He gained early literary fame with the 1959 collection Goodbye, Columbus (winner of 1960's National Book Award), cemented it with his 1969 bestseller Portn |
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Author | Philip Roth |
Book Series | Vintage International |
Format | Ebook |
ISBN | 9798212383233 |
Language | English |
Pages | 76 |
Publication Date | 10-04-2010 |
Publisher | Blackstone Publishing |
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