Back Novels & Stories 1959–1962

Philip Roth: Novels & Stories 1959–1962

Goodbye, Columbus and Five Short Stories | Letting Go More

Edited by Ross Miller

“Philip Roth has been admitted to this country’s most exclusive literary club: The Library of America.” — The New York Times

Overview
Table of Contents

Overview

Save $90 when you buy all nine Philip Roth volumes.

For the last half century, the novels of Philip Roth have re-energized American fiction and redefined its possibilities. Roth’s comic genius, his imaginative daring, his courage in exploring uncomfortable truths, and his assault on political, cultural, and sexual orthodoxies have made him one of the essential writers of our time. By special arrangement with the author, The Library of America now inaugurates the definitive edition of Roth’s collected works. This first volume presents Goodbye, Columbus and Five Short Stories, the book that established Roth’s reputation on publication in 1959 and for which he won the National Book Award, and his first novel, Letting Go (1962).

The title novella, Goodbye, Columbus, the story of a summer romance between a poor young man from Newark and a rich Radcliffe co-ed, is both a tightly wrought tale of youthful desire and a satiric gem that takes aim at the comfortable affluence of the postwar boom. Here and in the stories that accompany it, including “The Conversion of the Jews” and “Defender of the Faith,” Roth depicts Jewish lives in 1950s America with an unflinching sharpness of observation.

In Letting Go, a sprawling novel set largely against the backdrop of Chicago in the 1950s, Roth portrays the moral dilemmas of young people cast precipitously into adulthood, and in the process describes a skein of social and family responsibilities as they are brought into focus by issues of marriage, abortion, adoption, friendship, and career. The novel’s expansiveness provides a wide scope for Roth’s gift for vivid characterization, and in his protagonist Gabe Wallach he creates a nuanced portrait of a responsive young academic whose sense of morality draws him into the ordeals of others with unforeseen consequences.

Ross Miller, editor, is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Connecticut and has taught at Yale, Wesleyan, and Trinity College. His criticism has appeared in scholarly journals, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. He is the author of American Apocalypse: The Great Fire and the Myth of Chicago and Here’s the Deal: The Buying and Selling of a Great American City.

This Library of America series edition is printed on acid-free paper and features Smyth-sewn binding, a full cloth cover, and a ribbon marker.

Project support for this volume was provided by a Friend of the Library of America.

Philip Roth: Novels & Stories 1959–1962 is kept in print by a gift from Joel Conarroe to the Guardians of American Letters Fund.
Table of Contents

Goodbye, Columbus and Five Short Stories
Goodbye, Columbus
The Conversion of the Jews
Defender of the Faith
Epstein
You Can’t Tell a Man by the Song He Sings
Eli, the Fanatic

Letting Go

17.50 List Price: $35.00 (Save: 50%) Free shipping on orders $50 and over

Or buy from our partners

Phone orders: 1-800-964-5778 Request product #201691

ISBN: 978-1-93108279-2 913 pages

LOA books are distributed worldwide by Penguin Random House

N° 157 Library of America Series

Subscribers can purchase the slipcased edition by signing in to their accounts.

Related Books

Philip Roth: Novels 1973–1977 LOA N°165

Philip Roth: Novels 1967–1972 LOA N°158

Philip Roth: Novels & Other Narratives 1986–1991 LOA N°185

Philip Roth: Zuckerman Bound: A Trilogy & Epilogue 1979–1985 LOA N°175

Philip Roth: The American Trilogy 1997–2000 LOA N°220

Library of America

CURATOR

A champion of America’s great writers and timeless works, Library of America guides readers in finding and exploring the exceptional writing that reflects the nation’s history and culture.

Learn More

PUBLISHER

From poetry, novels, and memoirs to journalism, crime writing, and science fiction, the more than 300 volumes published by Library of America are widely recognized as America’s literary canon.

Browse our books Subscribe

NON-PROFIT

With contributions from donors, Library of America preserves and celebrates a vital part of our cultural heritage for generations to come.

Support our mission

Philip Roth: Novels & Stories 1959–1962

Related Books

Get 10% off your first Library of America purchase.