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(It was a fiction.)
Retirement did not suit Philip Roth.
What was the most prolific writer of his age doing not writing?
A life of unalterable contention is the best preparation he knows for death.
In his incompatibility he finds truth.
He admitted it wasnt an original idea, but he spent his life perfecting it.
Every great writer repeats himself and every great writer goes through phases.
With Roth there were so many phases its hard to count.
Roth was a man of multiple alter egos.
It wasnt his best.
How could it be?
Roths talent bloomed across six decades and has become part of the foundation of an ongoing literature.
That he was male, that he was a Jew in his own mind these were accidents.
He gave the novel too much life and left too many inheritors.
He could not fucking die.
How could he leave?
How could he go?
Everything he hated was here.
