ILLNESS AND THE MEDICALIZATION OF THE BODY IN PHILIP ROTH’S NOVELS
ILLNESS AND THE MEDICALIZATION OF THE BODY IN PHILIP ROTH’S NOVELS
Author(s): Gabriela GlăvanSubject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature
Published by: Editura Universităţii de Vest din Timişoara / Diacritic Timisoara
Keywords: aging; illness; medical body; medical intervention; medicine and literature;
Summary/Abstract: A central, recurrent theme in Roth’s oeuvre, the process of aging and illness has been widely explored by the writer in close relation with the medical realm. I shall focus on three novels that, in varying degrees, reveal the complex meaning of this phenomenon, all having the writer’s alter-ego, Nathan Zuckerman, as protagonist: The Anatomy Lesson, where Roth exposes the painful awareness of biological vulnerability as part of becoming older, Exit Ghost, a novel of solitude and defeat, and American Pastoral, one of Roth’s cardinal works, questioning the truth and mythology of one’s biography.
Journal: B.A.S. British and American Studies
- Issue Year: 26/2020
- Issue No: 26
- Page Range: 77-83
- Page Count: 7
- Language: English