Philip Roth

Philip Roth (1933–2018) was an American writer born in Newark, New Jersey, with a European Jewish background. He gained international attention with the novel “Portnoy’s Complaint” (1969). His novels and stories frequently explored Jewish American identity, relationships, sexuality, and social constraints. His best-known works include “American Pastoral,” “The Human Stain,” “The Plot Against America,” and the Zuckerman novels. Roth received numerous major honors, including the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award twice each, the PEN/Faulkner Award three times, and the National Medal of Arts. In 1998, he won the Pulitzer Prize for “American Pastoral,” and in 2011 he received the Man Booker International Prize. He taught at several universities until 1992.