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Roth creates blighted hero for our time
Roth's Everyman confronts his own mortality
Date published: 5/28/2006
By DAN DERVIN For THE FREE LANCE-STAR Philip Roth claims he was inspired by a snatch of dialogue in the late medieval morality play "Everyman" in which the nameless hero is confronted by his imminent death and need for repentance. Roth's nameless hero (call him "EM") has been criticized for being more generic than universal, but he takes his place in a long and illustrious line. It is also generously inclusive. One recalls the spiritual quest of Ingmar Bergman's knight in "The Seventh Seal," buying time from Death while he struggles to reconcile suffering and evil with his religious faith. F. Scott Fitzgerald's Jay Gatsby qualifies as an American Everyman in pursuit of the American dream. Similarly, Louis Begley's cancer-stricken hero in "Mistral's Exit" comes closer yet to Roth's version. But Mistral, who has been offered the choice of prolonging his life through debilitating treatment, defies his medical forecast to live his final months in Venice with the relative freedom his physical condition allows. Like most of these figures, Roth's hero is Jewish, but not religious and, instead of pursuing his true love, a career in art, earns his livelihood in New York's commercial world. "He was too much the good boy, and, answering to his parents' wishes rather than his own, married, had children, and went into advertising to make a secure living. He never thought of himself as anything more than an average human being." When his first marriage proves to be a prison cell, he begins to "tunnel his way out." Isn't that what an average human being would do? In fact, he tunnels his way into two more marriages and a few affairs along the way. His two sons from his first marriage are unforgiving; his daughter Nancy from his second is adoring.
Date published: 5/28/2006
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