What the Philip Roth Thanksgiving Passage in American Pastoral Gets Wrong

There has never been a more fraught (to use understatement) time to be Jewish in the United States. Never a time when it was so politically weaponized for a “with us or against us” purpose (one such example being the “pro-Israel” defense of, “You’re antisemitic if you don’t support it”). And even saying something as simple and straightforward as that could be deemed as an … Continue reading What the Philip Roth Thanksgiving Passage in American Pastoral Gets Wrong

Genna RivieccioNovember 27, 2025November 27, 2025Leave a comment

Poetry

Philip Roth by Ron Kolm

I first met Philip Roth many years ago when I was working at Coliseum Books, on the corner of 57th Street and Broadway. Coliseum was one of the largest bookstores in Manhattan at the time and was the place to go if you were a serious lover of books. Coliseum was also at the top of the list of places to make an appearance for … Continue reading Philip Roth by Ron Kolm

Genna RivieccioMarch 19, 20232 Comments

Criticism

A Call for Reading Leaving A Doll’s House as a Way to “Honor” Philip Roth’s Death

The death of Philip Roth at eighty-five is symbolic of the continued tearing down of walls that have kept the old guard safe from too much judgment or criticism. The famously perverse Roth, whose perversity found him becoming a legend after the publication of Portnoy’s Complaint in, fittingly, 1969 (also the year Interview was started before it had to end), hadn’t released an incendiary novel … Continue reading A Call for Reading Leaving A Doll’s House as a Way to “Honor” Philip Roth’s Death

Genna RivieccioMay 23, 2018April 26, 20213 Comments