Goodbye Columbus and other stories (1959) - Philip Roth

Category: Adults, Classic, Contemporary, General Fiction
Language: English
Keywords: Coming of Age Jewish Men

Written by Philip Roth
Read by Theodore Bikel, John Rubinstein, Elliot Gould, Harlan Ellison, Jerry Zaks
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps

Publisher: Phoenix Books, Inc.
Release date: February 6, 2007
Duration: 08:18:00

Neil Klugman, and pretty, spirited Brenda Patimkin he of poor Newark, she of suburban Short Hills meet one summer and dive into an affair that is as much about social class and suspicion, as it is about love.

In the following five shorter pieces, themes of guilt, separatism, survival, assimilation and neuroticism—typical challenges facing the newcomer—play out.

In the “Conversion of the Jews,” a young Jew exploits his Rabbi and mother’s guilt over being responsible for his impending suicide by getting them to accept that divine births are possible if they believe in an omnipotent God.

In “Defender of the Faith,” a Jewish army recruit cloyingly inveigles special privileges from his (also Jewish) sergeant and uses strategic lies to gain advantage.

In “Epstein,” we see the classic immigrant who built himself up from scratch, now in middle age, trying to boost his sex life with a bit on the side and falling outside the norms established for his people, with disastrous consequences.

“You Can Tell a Man by the Song He Sings” pits the incumbent ex-con American schoolboy against a brainy Jewish kid, where the moral of the story is that those who have been “in the can” know how to wreak their revenge and yet stay out of trouble compared to those naive ones who play by the rule book.

The final story, “Eli the Fanatic,” is the most powerful, for it deals with the issue of assimilation and posits the question that it is the responsibility of both the incumbent and the outsider to make inclusion work. Eli’s plunge into neurosis and nervous breakdown signals to us that in 1950’s America this assimilation was still a long way off.

Philip Roth’s books are an acquired taste. This collection will help you decide.