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Abstract
As early as 1972, while in Prague, Roth "encounters" (creates) a vivid, intelligent, highly reflective writer character (Nathan Zuckerman) and, as a result, he undertakes to write a new project of linked novels featuring this character and having an overarching meaning. Of course, the initial plan suffered a multitude of alterations in the 28 years it took to be delivered completely, the initiation of the series as well as its continuation stemming from Roth's propensity for writing sequels. However, there is a clear wholeness and neatness in the design of each of the books which make up this series.
Keywords: linked novels, Philip Roth, the Zuckerman project, sequels, installments
What is the Zuckerman series of books?
When in 2000, Philip Roth published The Human Stain, the publisher added in the front matter a list of "Books by Philip Roth", which meant changing the chronological organization of his life work to an organization around the (central) characters they depict: Zuckerman Books, Roth Books, Kepesh Books and Other Books. Back then there were eight Zuckerman books, but the series was enlarged in 2007 with the ninth and last installment:
The Ghost Writer (1979)
Zuckerman Unbound (1981)
The Anatomy Lesson (1983)
The Prague Orgy (1985)
The Counterlife (1986)
American Pastoral (1997)
I Married a Communist (1998)
The Human Stain (2000)
Exit Ghost (2007)
books collected as Zuckerman Bound
informally called the American trilogy
The books make up a unified series of nine interlocking novels (and a novella) due to the recurrence of the character Nathan Zuckerman, a writer himself. They represent one of the most ambitious literary series of our time, one of Proustian scale: being published over a period of 28 years (1979-2007) and amounting to 2,507 pages. They form a grand prose text, characterized by a hectic range of topics, narrative strategies, themes, and even different levels of accomplishment, Roth himself having admitted he has evolved significantly since the beginning of his career.
Were the Zuckerman books conceived as part of a project/plan/scheme?
This is a question critics or reviewers have not focused on. Roth has never been explicit on this matter either. However, I dare state that there had been a plan in Roth's mind from the very beginning. To demonstrate this I...