On The Transcendence Of Jewishness In Philip Roth’s American Pastoral

Philip Roth(March 19,1933-May 22,2018)is the most representative Jewish writer in the United States.He grew up in a Jewish family and was deeply influenced by American culture.The dual cultural influence enabled him to examine the cultures of various nationalities from a more neutral perspective.As a result,his works glowed with brilliance of the transcendence Jewishness.American Pastoral is a representative work of Philip Roth which typically embodies his creative characteristics.The paper mainly adopts the methods of cultural poetics and close reading of the text,analyzes the deep spiritual culture contained in American Pastoral.Take this as an example to reveal the transcendence Jewishness in Philip Roth’s works.The paper is mainly composed of four chapters besides the introduction.The first chapter mainly analyzes and defines the connotation of "Jewishness","transcendence Jewishness" and explores the source of Jewishness and the transcendence Jewishness in Philip Roth’s works.Chapter 2,Chapter 3,and Chapter 4 respectively analyze and discuss the transcendence characteristics of American Pastoral from three perspectives: motif,character image and cultural spirit.This paper restores the American Pastoral to the historical and cultural context.Through careful reading of the text of American Pastoral,we can discover,refine and interpret Philip Roth’s extraordinary literary value and profound thinking about the transcendence Jewishness.We can also see his deep thinking and humanistic care about the destiny of the Jewish nation and all mankind.