Newark City Writing In Philip Roth’s The American Trilogy

Philip Roth is a celebrated contemporary American Jewish writer and critic. His literary works reflect the life and mental condition of the ethnic minorities–especially the Jewish ethnic –about the middle-class Americans. His works are deeply loved by readers and always been the subject of critical controversies because of the plot twists, meticulous depiction, frank descriptions and cynical language. Philip Roth’s novels mostly reflect Newark city where he has been born and grown up and the existence problem of Newarkmen. The American Trilogy, the masterpiece of him, is called the Newark Trilogy by American scholars. This paper is backed by sociohistorical criticism and urban cultural criticism and will analyze the city writing about the Newark within three dimensions. It will also discuss the concepts of city, history and nation of Roth and reveal the reflection and criticism about the American urban postmodernity in his works.This paper consists five parts.Introduction, the reason why Roth chooses Newark as the main description object is disclosed in the introduction. The research situation at home and abroad of city writing in the American Trilogy also has been presented in this part. And, we will elaborate the background, the researching ways and methods of the research to point out its theory value and practical significance.Chapter one, with the clue of time, introduce the change of city life of the Newark immigrants spanning four generations and the history of Newark city, and analyze the tragedy of the city.Chapter two, with the clue of space, analyzes the pastoral and counterpastoral production of Newarkmen in the factory, and how the ethnic minorities struggle to stay alive when they are increasingly assimilated into the mainstream ideology of Newark city, and how the Newarkmen get their city class up or escape the control of the city, and reveal the city essence of Newark.Chapter three, with the clue of culture, criticizes the mass media of communication about the media shape and phenomenon of media’s intent-watch of Newarkmen, and criticizes the society of urban consumption and kitsch in the life of Newarkmen, and shows the living conditions of Newarkmen and the people in modernized city, and shows how the Roth explore and return to himself.Conclusion part will point out that the urban problem of Newark in the American Trilogy is a worldwide problem actually. The way, proposed by Roth, of how the Newarkmen returned to self and tradition, is helpful to solve the problem and worthy of learning.