On Multiple Roles Of Zuckerman As Jewish Intellectual In The Context Of Postmodernity

This dissertation attempts to put American contemporary Jewish writer Philip Roth's Zuckerman series(including nine novels of The Ghost Writer,1979,Zuckerman Unbound,1981,The Anatomy Lesson,1983,The Counterlife,1986,American Pastoral,1997,The Human Stain,2000,etc.)in the grand background of postmodernity.Based on theories of Jean-Fran?ois Lyotard's postmodern condition,Zygmunt Bauman's interpretive intellectual and Edward Said's exiled intellectual,the dissertation focuses on the protagonist,Nathan Zuckerman in the novels of Roth's Zuckerman series,exploring Zuckerman's multiple roles as a questioner,subverter,self-constructor and interpreter as Jewish intellectual in the context of postmodernity.This dissertation takes textual analysis,theoretical explanation as well as cultural criticism as research methods to answer three questions,namely “what are the social roots behind the multiple roles of Zuckerman as a Jewish intellectual in the context of postmodernity in Zuckerman series” “what are the multiple roles of Zuckerman as a Jewish intellectual in the context of postmodernity in Zuckerman series” and “through the multiple roles of Zuckerman,what are the social values and appeals of American Jewish intellectuals”.From these three questions,the dissertation intends to investigate how the postmodern elements contribute to the construction of Zuckerman's multiple roles as a Jewish intellectual in contemporary American experience.Firstly,to solve these three questions,this dissertation traces the social roots behind the multiple roles of Zuckerman,locating the analysis of Zuckerman in a grander picture of American Jewish intellectuals,to analyze their modern condition and the subsequent postmodern turn.Secondly,the dissertation analyzes the development of Zuckerman's multiple roles as Jewish intellectual in the context of postmodernity.As a questioner,Zuckerman awakens to question the Jewish essentialism,attempting to liberate himself from the constrains of Jewish history and Jewish moral ethics.As a subverter against the legitimacy of American Dream,Zuckerman is conscious of the falsehood of American Dream and the essence to purify “otherness” behind American racial discrimination.As a questioner and subverter,Zuckerman has abandoned his Jewish heritage without gaining a firmly rooted place in the American mainstream society,which turns Zuckerman into an exiled intellectual.As a self-constructor,Zuckerman reconstructs and rewrites a fluid self,which is heterogeneous and decentered in the postmodern sense.As an interpreter,Zuckerman chooses to side with the other and become a responsible and tolerant interpreter,interpreting the unpresentable and tolerating the otherness.At last,the dissertation concludes,by reflecting upon the values and influence of the multiple roles of Zuckerman has in the context of multiculturalism in American society.The dissertation finds out that the construction of Nathan Zuckerman's multiple roles as a Jewish intellectual in the context of postmodernity shatters modernist concepts of a stable and monolithic identity,which represents one intriguing possibility for the future of American Jewish intellectuals.Zuckerman's intellectual project as a whole is founded in the postmodern criticalness and skepticism of both his Jewish and American inheritances,critical of Jewish essentialism and the legitimacy of American Dream.Transcending the bounds between American culture and Jewish culture,Zuckerman offers a path for the Jews to go back into reality,to reconnect the Jews with the gentiles;interpreting the connections between cultural identities and cultural contexts,the multiple roles of Zuckerman offers a resolution to the crisis of anti-Semitism.