Roth and Trauma The Problem of History in the Later Works (1995-2010)

by Pozorski, Aimee

• ISBN13: 9781623563233
• ISBN10: 1623563232
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2013-02-28
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

Roth and Trauma: The Problem of History in the Later Works (1995-2010) moves beyond a critical reception of Philip Roth's recent fiction that has focused primarily on an interest in post WWII America. By contrast, Aimee Pozorski argues that these novels grapple more comprehensively with US history in their fascination with America's "traumatic beginnings" and the legacy of the American Revolution. Drawing on close readings and trauma theory, Roth and Trauma reveals the problem of history in Roth's later works to be the unexpected and repeated appearance of historical trauma that links the still-unfinished American dream with the nightmarish quality of our recent history.

Author Biography

Aimee Pozorski is Associate Professor of English at Central Connecticut State University, USA, where she teaches contemporary literature and trauma theory. She is the current President of The Philip Roth Society.

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

 

1. Roth and Trauma: The Problem of History in the Later Works

2. "I pledge a legion to the flag": Drenka Balich's Malapropisms and the Traumatic Sublime of the Flag

3. American Pastoral and the Traumatic Ideals of Democracy

4. "The stars are indispensable": Trauma, Betrayal, and Celebrity in I Married a Communist

5. Founding Traumas: Vietnam, Infanticide and The Iliad in The Human Stain

6. Terror, Trauma, and "the mockery of Armageddon": The Dying Animal in the New Millennium

7. Traumatic Realism, "Afterwardsness" and the Figure of the Child in The Plot Against America

8. Exit Ghost: Mourning Zuckerman in the Age of Terror

9. "the gravest meaning": Trauma and the Tetralogy of the Grave

 

Notes

Works

Cited

Index