Political Initiation in the Novels of Philip Roth

Political Initiation in the Novels of Philip Roth exemplifies how literature and, specifically, the work of Philip Roth can help readers understand the ways in which individuals develop their political identity, learn to comprehend political ideas, and define their role in society. Combining political science, literary theory, and anthropology, the book describes an individual's political coming of age as a political initiation story, which is crafted as much by the individual himself as by the circumstances influencing him, such as political events or the political attitude of the parents. Philip Roth's characters constantly re-write their own stories and experiment with their identities. Accordingly, Philip Roth's works enable the reader to explore, for instance, how individuals construct their identity against the backdrop of political transformations or contested territories, and thereby become initiands—or fail to do so. Contrary to what one might expect, initiations are not only defining moments in childhood and early adulthood; instead, Roth shows how initiation processes recur throughout an individual's life.

Table of Contents:
Prologue / I Framework / 1. Beginnings and Transitions in Political Science and Literature / II Classical Initiation Stories / 2. Political Awakenings in The Plot Against America and Indignation / 3. Guided by the Particularizer: I Married a Communist / 4. Political Odysseys: Prague, Israel, and Elsewhere / III Initiation as Radical Self-Invention / 5. Passing and Other Escapes from the Hereditary Predicament / 6. The Religious Void, or Terrorist Art: Fanaticism as a Quest for Identity / IV De-Initiation / 7. For Another Go: (Zucker)man as a Perpetual Initiand / Epilogue / Bibliography / Index

About the Author :
Claudia Franziska Brühwiler is Lecturer at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.

Review :
Brühwiler considers the 'ambiguities of beginnings' in Philip Roth’s oeuvre, looking specifically at Roth’s representation of the evolution of an individual’s political self... Exceedingly well researched, Political Initiation in the Novels of Philip Roth covers a wide range of Roth’s novels and the intertexts within them. Putting this fiction into conversation with predominant thinking in the social sciences, Brühwiler’s work not only serves as a model for Roth studies, but also as a model for interdisciplinary research overall. This book is an amazing critical journey through the works of Philip Roth. It offers new approaches to the complex relationships between the factual and the fictional, opening inspirational views to the ambiguous landscape of Roth’s creativity. Roth’s novels are redefined in Claudia Franziska Brühwiler’s essay by the political textures of society and the ways characters express the process of their own initiation and development. Brühwiler reveals with an extremely sharp eye the multiple ways Philip Roth plays games with his readers, how he makes them struggle between the undefined, the transitor,y and the fragmentary in a space of counter-realities. With a sense of literary imagination, theatrical sensibility, and critical thinking Brühwiler unfolds Roth’s panorama of political identities, whereby she shows creators, scholars, political scientist and literary theorist how to read fiction in a nutritious way. This is a necessary book that vindicates the dialogue between arts and sciences, bringing inclusive approaches to the tense experience of historiography and fiction. Identity, diversity and otherness are expressive tools that make Roth novels connect with global history and individual existence. The term initiation is in constant movement between the anthropological and the political, adding new attributes to the creative power that builds Roth’s characters. Literary theory has a lot to learn from the new approaches political science is adding to fiction. This excellent book by Claudia Franziska Brühwiler proves through the works of Philip Roth that political consciousness is the new poetics of politics in the space of creative imagination and identity.