On The Self-seeking Theme In Philip Roth's Works

Philip Roth(1933-2018)is a very important Jewish writer in contemporary American literature.From the publication of the first novel in 1957 to the announcement of the seal in 2012,in the half-century of his creative career,the selfquestion has always been the central theme of Roth's attention.As a third-generation Jewish immigrant who grew up in the United States,Philip Roth has a different understanding of American culture than his traditional father.He sees himself as an American and has no resistance or isolation to American culture.However,as a Jew,Roth also accepts traditional Jewish education.In the two environments of American culture and Jewish culture,Roth has a deep sense of self-identity.He writes this confusion into his works and constantly exposes the suppression of human nature by traditional Jewishness and shows the contradiction between Jewish culture and American culture,and constantly seeks the final form of self under the impact of two cultures.At the same time,as Roth gradually entered the American society and survived in society,he found that the American culture he recognized and pursued had a great dislocation with the core values of freedom and equality advocated by his own culture.Many people lost in a pluralistic society.The affiliation and sense of stability of the self are in a situation of confusion and confusion.The particularity of the Jewish ethnic identity,the misplaced values of American culture,and the spiritual confusion of modern individuals make Ross always focus on the pursuit and positioning of the self.This article is divided into four parts.The first chapter introduces the life and creation of Philip Roth.Through reading a large number of related literatures,this paper summarizes the research status of Philip Roth,expounds the significance and research methods of this topic,and analyzes the problems that may arise in the text,and determines the research direction.The second chapter begins with the contradiction between the traditional Jewish fathers and the Jewish children,and explores Nathan's re-cognition and thinking about the self in the conflict between the father and the son.The conflict between father and son is actually the conflict between tradition and modernity.This chapter explains Nathan's collision between tradition and modernity by interpreting the dilemma of Roth's work character,explaining Nathan's pursuit of true self.The third chapter analyzes the incompleteness of the individual self caused byNathan Zuckerman's resistance to sexual culture and indulgence of interpretative repression,and discusses the pursuit and perfection of Nathan in the self-release.The fourth chapter mainly discusses the survival dilemma of individuals under the dual culture of American culture and Jewish culture,and explores Nathan's revelation and reflection on the two cultures.After adulthood,Nathan Zuckerman,who entered the society,faced the autocratic closure of the American commercialized social environment and Jewish traditional culture,and began to seek self-identity and identity in the big environment.This chapter analyzes Nathan Zuckerman's pursuit of racial identity and secular success in social identity,and considers the shaping and influence of American culture on minority culture and American individuals.The fifth chapter focuses on the misplacement between the real self and the ideal self.Through the analysis of Nathan Zuckerman's reflection on his life in his old age,he combines Roth as a unique experience and foreign feelings of Jews who grew up in American society.The loneliness of modern individuals explores Roth's spiritual crisis and inner loneliness.