American Pastoral
by Philip Roth · first published 1997
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American Pastoral is a Philip Roth novel published in 1997 concerning Seymour "Swede" Levov, a successful Jewish American businessman and former high school star athlete from Newark, New Jersey. Levov's happy and conventional upper middle class life is ruined by the domestic social and political turmoil of the 1960s during the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson, which in the novel is described as a manifestation of the "indigenous American berserk". American Pastoral won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998. Seven years later, the novel was included in Time's List of the 100 Best Novels, a list
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Got any recommendations? I don't really have any complaints about this list, but I would include: The Castle - Franz Kafka American Tabloid - James Ellroy The Inheritors - William Golding American Pastoral - Philip Roth The Big Sleep - Raymond Chandler
on “Book Club: 100 best novels of all time” ↗> Dr. Knuth has gone so far as to argue that some computer programs are, like Elizabeth Bishop’s poems and Philip Roth’s “American Pastoral,” works of literature worthy of a Pulitzer. I'd love to know which programs he's thinking of. Any ideas?
on “The Yoda of Silicon Valley” ↗…we know we're alive: we're wrong. Maybe the best thing would be to forget being right or wrong about people and just go along for the ride. But if you can do that -- well, lucky you.” ― Philip Roth, American Pastoral
on “Why go out?” ↗…readable by humans as well as computers — a notion that nowadays seems almost twee. Dr. Knuth has gone so far as to argue that some computer programs are, like Elizabeth Bishop’s poems and Philip Roth’s “American Pastoral,” works of literature worthy of a Pulitzer. Note this part specifically: > the notion of “literate programming,” emphasizing the importance...a notion that nowadays seems almost twee" "literate programming"…
on “The Der Spiegel journalist who messed with the wrong small town” ↗There's something awfully tone-deaf about a conservative magazine using John Updike, Sinclair Lewis and Philip Roth to bemoan the decline of country clubs. These men's works (American Pastoral, Rabbit, Run) excoriate the culture of the 50s and 60s rat-race-to-the-country-club. The fact that the literature of the period employs the country club is not evidence of the country club's positive…
on “Death of the Country Club” ↗Not sure if Michael Roth is related to Philip Roth, but it somehow reminds me of American Pastoral and that era of protests against the Vietnam War and its aftermath. I'm not entirely sure how those demonstrations compare to the ones we’re seeing today, but the parallels are striking
on “A university president makes a case against cowardice” ↗