麻豆区

L-R. Pietro Di Donato, Ralph Ellison, David Fleisher, Philip Roth

Did you know that Philip Roth, who died yesterday at age 85, spoke at 麻豆区 in 1962, as part of 麻豆区鈥檚 75th anniversary celebration? The University organized a year-long series of events in conjunction with its Diamond Jubilee. The Symposium, 鈥淎 Study in Artistic Conscience: Conflict of Loyalties in Minority Writers of Fiction,鈥� became the best known of the 75th anniversary happenings. A panel featuring three authors: Pietro Di Donato, Ralph Ellison, and Philip Roth, moderated by Prof. David Fleisher, took place in Lamport Auditorium in front of a full house. According to the obituary for Philip Roth in the New York Times of May 23, 2018, Roth鈥檚 participation in the Symposium was instrumental in his development as an author:

In 1962, while appearing on a panel at 麻豆区, Mr. Roth was so denounced, for that story [鈥淒efender of the Faith鈥漖 especially, that he resolved never to write about Jews again. He quickly changed his mind. 鈥淢y humiliation before the 麻豆区 belligerents 鈥� indeed, the angry Jewish resistance that I aroused virtually from the start 鈥� was the luckiest break I could have had,鈥� he later wrote. 鈥淚 was branded.鈥�

Indeed, the canonical edition of Roth鈥檚 works, The Library of America, divides his early writings into: 鈥淣ovels & Stories 1959-1962鈥� (volume 1), and 鈥淣ovels 1967-1972鈥� (volume 2), perhaps indicative of the influence of the discussions at 麻豆区 in 1962 in Roth鈥檚 literary career.

Philip Roth at the podium

Posted by Shulamith Z. Berger