Reflections On The Living Dilemma Of American Contemporary Intellectuals In Philip Roth’s Novels Of "Zuckerman Series"

Philip Roth is one of the most important contemporary Jewish writers in the United States.His “Zuckerman series” include nine novels as The Ghost Writer(1979),Zuckerman Unbound(1981),The Anatomy Lesson(1983),The Prague Orgy(1985),The Counterlife(1986),American Pastoral(1997),I Married a Communist(1998),The Human Stain(2000),Exit Ghost(2007).The image of the writer Nathan Zuckerman runs through all the nine novels,talking about,or experiencing various problems of living dilemma,which shows us the picture of contemporary American social life,especially the depiction of contemporary American intellectuals.Although the characters in Philip Roth’s novels of “Zuckman Series” are mostly American Jewish intellectuals,they are part of the American intellectuals,and they are related and consistent with the American intellectuals’ emotions and living environment.We can see the plight of contemporary American intellectuals through Roth’s description of the living conditions of minority intellectuals in the United States.In addition,the universal significance of Roth’s novels also allows us to seek answers to questions about living dilemma.This paper is divided into three parts.The first part is “Introduction”,which introduces Philip Roth and his creation,gives an overview of research on Roth at home and abroad,and identifies the value of the topic selection as well as ideas of the present research.Part Ⅱ is the main body,from chapter 1 to 4.The first chapter,“Spiritual Depravity under Social and Cultural Invasion”,mainly analyzes Exit Ghost and the trilogy of “Bound Zuckerman”(including The Ghost Writer,Zuckerman Unbound,The Anatomy Lesson),from the two aspects of the indulgence of human desire and the suppression of traditional morality,and sorts out Philip Roth’s description on spiritual depravity of contemporary American intellectuals.Chapter 2,“Difficult Humanity Choice”,interprets the novels The Human Stain and The Ghost Writer in detail,and discusses the deviation of human nature caused by intellectuals’ betrayal of self and their weakness.Chapter 3,“The Demise of Pastoral” mainly analyzes the trilogy of“Bound Zuckerman” and explores the difficulty of intellectuals in realizing the American Dream.Chapter 4,“Self-redemption in The Spiritual Home”,analyzes the two works The Anatomy Lesson and The Counterlife,in which after “painful introspection”,intellectuals reestablished the connection with their emotion and traditional culture in the “pursuit of homeland” and finally got self-redemption.Part Ⅲ is “Conclusion”,which reveals Roth’s worries about the decline of American society and culture by reflecting and summarizing the above-mentioned living dilemma of contemporary American intellectuals.Roth hopes to use self-built spiritual home to resist intrusion of foreign society and culture,so as to obtain inner peace.