Philip Roth

1933–2018 · American novelist

Philip Milton Roth was an American novelist and short-story writer. Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for its sexual humor, for philosophically and formally blurring the distinction between reality and fiction, for its "sensual, ingenious style" and for its provocative explorations of Jewish and American identity. He first gained attention with the 1959 short story collection Goodbye, Columbus, which won the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction. Ten years later, he published the bestseller Portnoy's Complaint. Nathan Zuckerman, Roth's literary alter ego, narrates several of his books. A fictionalized Roth narrates some of his others, such as the alternate history The Plot Against America.

Philip Roth, in order

1. 1972 What's Up, Doc?: acted · directed by Peter Bogdanovich · critics 88%, audiences 88% · streaming on Kanopy, Tubi
2. 2008 Elegy: wrote · directed by Isabel Coixet
3. 2014 The Humbling: wrote · directed by Barry Levinson · critics 53%, audiences 28% · streaming on Prime Video, fuboTV, Roku Channel