Biblioracle: Finally reading ‘Zuckerman Bound,' and why we don't have writers like Philip Roth anymore

Chicago Tribune

5 days ago

By an accident of fate, I recently found myself reading a couple of previously unread (by me) Philip Roth novels just as New York Times columnist David Brooks was wondering why we didn't have any Philip Roths anymore.
During a vacation trip to the Berkshires, at a library sale in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, I stumbled across a copy of 'Zuckerman Bound,' a thick paperback that collects three of Roth's novels: 'The Ghost Writer' (1979), 'Zuckerman Unbound' (1981) and 'The Anatomy Lesson' (1983), along with a novella 'The Prague Orgy' (1985).
On the first page of 'The Ghost Writer,' the protagonist, Nathan Zuckerman (a Roth alter ego), reports that he is in the Berkshires on the way to have dinner with his idol, E.I. Lonoff. The novel's primary setting was no more than a couple of miles from where I bought the book.
The day after I purchased the book, Brooks lamented in the New York Times that we no longer seem to have novels as 'cultural events,' as used to be common back when he was in college. One of those novelists he cites is Philip Roth.
Reading 'The Ghost Writer' and 'Zuckerman Unbound' back-to-back in two days gave me the answer to Brooks' question, but first, I have to share an important message: These books are terrific!
Despite having read a good handful of Roth's other books, I'd never read any of his 'Zuckerman' books because they sounded self-indulgent — a writer using an alter ego to write about his life as a writer — and boy are they self-indulgent, but also… terrific!
However, they also read like artifacts from a different world, a world that doesn't exist anymore, and as lamentable as this absence may be, there's no putting that toothpaste back in the tube.
In 'The Ghost Writer,' set in the late 1950s, a young Nathan Zuckerman has been invited to supper with the semi-reclusive Lonoff after having published a handful of stories in well-regarded periodicals. Lonoff is both pleased to meet a fan and admiring of Zuckerman's work. Also at the dinner are Lonoff's helpmeet wife — who has had enough of servitude to the great artist — and a young woman who, secretly, claims to be Anne Frank, having survived the war and emigrated as a refugee under a different name.
The novel is an exploration of ambition and identity, what a son owes his family, what it is to be Jewish in America after the Holocaust. 'Zuckerman Unbound' picks up a decade later with Zuckerman having published the phenomenon, 'Carnovsky,' a stand-in for Roth's 'Portnoy's Complaint.' Zuckerman is a celebrity who needs an answering service and an armed limo driver. His evening exploits are in the tabloids, but his father is dying, and his mother has to contend with a son who has become internationally famous for a book about a man obsessed with his own sexual self-pleasure.
Together, these novels point to two major changes in our culture. For one, a novel about a young man's literary ambitions and the disconnect between these and his cultural upbringing ('The Ghost Writer') would read like something about the 1950s. For two, a novel about a writer who becomes an overnight celebrity from a novel reads like something from the 1960s or '70s.
A 2025 version of this story is not a novelist, but the 'hawk tuah' girl, who, like Zuckerman, got famous referencing a sexual act, only in a 15-second video.
If we're going to lament the changes in culture, at least we should attempt to understand what's happening.
Thankfully, Philip Roth's books are still widely available, including three books for three bucks at a library sale.
John Warner is the author of books including 'More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI.' You can find him at biblioracle.com.
Book recommendations from the Biblioracle
John Warner tells you what to read based on the last five books you've read.
1. 'Good Material' by Dolly Alderton
2. 'Fever Beach' by Carl Hiaasen
3. 'Lazarus Man' by Richard Price
4. 'Up All Night: An Aspie's Memoir of Chasing Girls in Quicksand' by Rich Trout
5. 'Going Home' by Tom LamontA sort of quiet, but haunting novel from a few years back by Jonathan Dee, 'Sugar Street' seems like a good fit for Ed.
1. 'The Forest of Lost Souls' by Dean Koontz
2. 'The Dark Design' by Philip José Farmer
3. 'The Chronicles of Amber' by Roger Zelazny
4. 'Realms of Wizardry' by Lin Carter
5. 'John & Paul' by Ian LeslieI sense that 'The Shining Girls' by Lauren Beukes may have the right mix of elements for David.
1. 'A Fever in the Heartland' by Timothy Egan
2. 'Who is Government?' by Michael Lewis
3. 'Wavewalker' by Suzanne Heywood
4. 'Station Eleven' by Emily St. John Mandel
5. 'Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close' by Jonathan Safran FoerFor Rob, I'm recommending a novel with a simultaneously intimate and big scope, 'Mobility' by Lydia Kiesling.
Get a reading from the Biblioracle
Send a list of the last five books you've read and your hometown to [e-mail].