Philip Roth Has Written His Last Novel
Philip Roth has quit writing novels.
The famous American author said in a recent interview that he was done writing novels. Roth said that Nemesis, a book he published in 2010, would be the last novel that he ever writes.
In an interview with French magazine Les inRocks, Roth said:
“I do not intend to write for the next ten years. To tell you the truth, I’m done. Nemesis will be my last book. Look at E.M. Forster, he stopped writing fiction aged 40.”
Roth said that he was continually writing in his younger days but hasn’t managed to write anything for the last three years. Instead, Roth is spending his team re-reading his old books.
“I used to write book after book, but I haven’t written anything for three years … I decided to reread all my books, beginning with the last one, Nemesis. Until I got fed up just before Portnoy’s Complaint, which is imperfect. I wanted to see if I had wasted my time writing. And I thought it was rather successful.”
Roth said that he has spent his life studying the novel and has finally had enough.
Roth said:
“I have dedicated my life to the novel: I studied, I taught, I wrote and I read. To the exclusion of almost everything else. Enough! I no longer feel this fanaticism to write that I have experienced in my life. The thought of sitting down to write one more time is an impossible one for me … And if I did write a new book, it would most likely be a failure. Who needs to read another mediocre book?
Roth has one the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award (twice), and the National Humanities Medal.
Are you a fan of Philip Roth? Are you disappointed that he’s retired from novel writing?
