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This is small fry for Roth, who always seems to have courted scandal, particularly with the publication of Portnoy’s Complaint in 1969. Portnoy’s Complaint is the neurotic, rampantly sexualised monologue of a “nice Jewish boy” (the eponymous Alexander Portnoy), as he divulges all to his therapist. Roth intertwines social commentary with the libidinous urges of a repressed, Jewish, teenage boy, a concept summarised by the character’s complaint to his analyst, “What I'm saying, Doctor, is that I don't seem to stick my dick up these girls, as much as I stick it up their backgrounds – as though through fucking I will discover America." The New Yorker heralded Portnoy as “One of the dirtiest books ever published,” an accolade that the Pulitzer prize-winner clearly made attempts to beat when he was shortlisted for the Bad Sex Award for The Humbling. But there’s more to Roth than sex (bad or otherwise): he published his first novel at the age of 26, and since then has gone on to win the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award and the UK’s WH Smith Literary Award for best book of the year, as well as being translated into languages all over the world.
Roth’s novels are often semi-autobiographical (even a character called “Philip Roth” pops up in his fiction), with certain recurrent themes: an exploration into the Jewish American community, the pressures of adolescence in a postwar era, and the tainted American Dream. Roth is known for his satirical commentary on the idealism of American patriotism, and is celebrated for his perceptive and humorous take on American culture. The honour of this prize acknowledges his achievements in fiction on an international level, showing that his themes transcend geographical boundaries.
Author Dr Rick Gekoski, one of the judges on the Man Booker International Prize panel, commented that Roth’s novels “stimulated, provoked and amused an enormous, and still expanding, audience." Roth himself was flattered by the honour, expressing his “hope [that] the prize will bring me to the attention of readers around the world who are not familiar with my work”. And the 76-year-old author shows no sign of slowing down: he published his thirty-first book in October last year.
Interested? Pick up: Portnoy’s Complaint – This witty and expertly-crafted novel catapulted Roth to fame (or infamy). For any girl who wants to see inside the mind of a masturbation-obsessed teenage boy (albeit a repressed one with a tendency towards self-loathing). For any boy who, well, enjoys a good yarn. The Human Stain – Made into a film with Nicole Kidman and Anthony Hopkins. The novel is set in New England in the 1990s, when ‘political correctness’ was reaching its peak, and is about the scandal that ensues when a professor at a college is unjustly accused of racism. It won the New York Times Editors’ Choice award.
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