Philip Roth

It was during his years at Chicago that he met novelist Margaret Martinson in 1956. Three years thence, the two went into the wedlock in 1959.

The couple annulled their marriage in 1963. However, a tragic car accident caused Martinson’s death in 1968. The incident caused him much grief and left a lasting impression on his works. She was an inspiration for many of his female characters.

In 1990, he took the marital vows again with long-time companion and English actress Claire Bloom. However, the unison did not last long as the two separated in 1994.

Philip Roth was the second child born to Bess and Herman Roth in the Weequahic neighbourhood of Newark, New Jersey.

He completed much of his schooling from in the Weequahic High School graduating from the same in 1950. During his years at school, he was quite famous among his friends, colleagues and teachers for his wit and humor.

Finishing his preliminary education, he enrolled himself at the Bucknell University to attain a degree in English. Henceforth, he attained admission at the University of Chicago from where he received his MA in English Literature.

For a brief duration, he took up the profile of an instructor at the University of Chicago’s writing program. He then drafted himself into the United States Army which he served for two years.

Post completing his military duties, he sought to write professionally. Starting off from writing fiction and criticism for various magazines, including movie reviews for The New Republic in 1959, he came out with his debut book, ‘Goodbye Columbus’ and Five Short Stories’ for which he received a National Book Award the following year.

The massive success of his debut venture inspired him to write further and consequently he came out with two more novels, ‘Letting Go’ and ‘When She Was Good’. While the former was published in 1962, the latter came five years later in 1967.

While he had received popularity as a writer, the big break still seemed distant. However, ‘Portnoy’s Complaint’, his fourth published novel, eradicated all such complaints and helped him gain widespread commercial and critical success thus cementing his position as a bestseller writer.

Not the one to limit his creative outflow, he experimented with various genres of writing all through the 1970s, from comedy to political satire. He came out with the novel, ‘Our Gant to the Kafkaesque The Breast’ that had David Kepesh as lead protagonist. He was reprised in the 1977 novel, ‘The Professor of Desire’

It was during the later years of the 1970s that he created his alter ego a fictional character by the name Nathan Zuckerman who featured in many of his novels and novellas.

He has twice won the National Book Award for ‘Goodbye, Columbus’ and Sabbath’s Theatre’. In 1986 and 1991, he won the National Book Critics Circle Award for ‘The Counterlife’ and ‘Patrimony’ respectively.

He was bestowed with the PEN/Faulkner Award for 'Operation Shylock’ in 1994. He received the prized award in 2001 for ‘The Human Stain’ and in 2007 for ‘Everyman’.

In 1998, he was conferred with the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for the novel, ‘American Pastoral’. In the same year, he received the National Medal of Arts.

In 2001, he received the inaugural Franz Kafka Prize.

In 2002, he won the coveted Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Literature by the National Book Foundation.