I am in agreement with the Swedish multiculti crowd who regards Philip Roth's writing as Jewish-American or American-Jewish, and I am NOT an anti-semite. He draws from his Jewish background, (as often does Woody Allen) in "Portroy's Complaint" and "Goodbye, Columbus." I have not read much Roth, but I will compare him to someone of my heritage, Frank McCort. He always draws from his Irish background as does Toni Morrison from her African-American background.They are all Americans, but some of their works were inspired by their cultural backgrounds. Some people even just call Frank McCort an Irish writer even though he has been teaching here for years. Broadly speaking, Americans are Americans and people are people-and you know how much I detest the "lineage lovers" Jim!
I'm sorry, everyone. I just shut down and it dawned on me-it's Frank McCourt, not McCort, My late Irish-American Aunt, as an octogenarian, called him "an ass" for the way that he portrayed the Irish in "Angela's Ashes." Reminds me of how many "New Yorker" readers cancelled their subsciptions after Roth's piece. Roth won a Pulitzer and Booker, so he was clearly accomplished, as an American, a Jew or just a simple writer.
I don't understand "writing Jewish". I don't understand this. Whatever does this mean? Jews aren't any different from anyone else. Is one supposed to detect that a writer is Jewish from their writing? I'm utterly baffled by this. That's like saying I'm writing elderly German man. This makes no sense. But then again, I'm an old German man. So....
I am in agreement with the Swedish multiculti crowd who regards Philip Roth's writing as Jewish-American or American-Jewish, and I am NOT an anti-semite. He draws from his Jewish background, (as often does Woody Allen) in "Portroy's Complaint" and "Goodbye, Columbus." I have not read much Roth, but I will compare him to someone of my heritage, Frank McCort. He always draws from his Irish background as does Toni Morrison from her African-American background.They are all Americans, but some of their works were inspired by their cultural backgrounds. Some people even just call Frank McCort an Irish writer even though he has been teaching here for years. Broadly speaking, Americans are Americans and people are people-and you know how much I detest the "lineage lovers" Jim!
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, everyone. I just shut down and it dawned on me-it's Frank McCourt, not McCort, My late Irish-American Aunt, as an octogenarian, called him "an ass" for the way that he portrayed the Irish in "Angela's Ashes." Reminds me of how many "New Yorker" readers cancelled their subsciptions after Roth's piece. Roth won a Pulitzer and Booker, so he was clearly accomplished, as an American, a Jew or just a simple writer.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand "writing Jewish". I don't understand this. Whatever does this mean? Jews aren't any different from anyone else. Is one supposed to detect that a writer is Jewish from their writing? I'm utterly baffled by this. That's like saying I'm writing elderly German man. This makes no sense. But then again, I'm an old German man. So....
ReplyDelete