Philip Roth speaks

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In the fall books issue of the New Yorker there’s a lengthy conversation between Philip Roth and Hermione Lee about Roth’s new novel ‘Exit Ghost.’ As has been much reported, ‘Exit Ghost’ will be the last book to feature Nathan Zuckerman, the literary alter ego who has appeared in nine of Roth’s novels, beginning with 1979’s ‘The Ghost Writer.’ Asked why he’s letting the character go, Roth doesn’t really have an answer; rather, he talks about why he’s kept him around for so many years. Still, Roth ponders, ‘Will I miss him? No. I’m curious to see who and what will replace him’--which suggests that, in keeping with his productivity over the last decade or so, the 74-year-old Roth has no intention of slowing down.

Roth’s immensely thoughtful on a host of issues--novel-writing, his reading habits, the interplay of history and literature--although unfortunately, we can’t link to the interview; it’s not available online. (To hear Roth in his own words, give a listen to his Fresh Air interview with Terry Gross, which aired on Sept. 25.)

But more than anything, it’s his ideas on the role of fiction that resonate. ‘I’m not out to make fiction into a political statement,’ Roth says about ‘Exit Ghost,’ which takes place just before and after the 2004 presidential election. ‘Rather, I’m out to do what fiction and only fiction does: to portray in a sustained narrative those who did make political statements. I want to present in detail a strong political moment in our recent communal life, I want to try to understand what’s what, to be contiguous not with my biases or anyone else’s but with reality.’

David L. Ulin