Patrimony: A True Story
Encyclopedia
Patrimony: A True Story is a memoir by American
writer Philip Roth
. It was first published by Simon & Schuster
in 1991.
for autobiography. It was his second Book Critics Circle Award, after a 1987 fiction prize for The Counterlife
.
critic L.S. Klepp gave the memoir an "A": " Blunt and devout, comfortless and bracing, Patrimony is a triumph of unflinching memory." Robert M. Adams, in The New York Review of Books
called Roth's work "a major achievement." R.Z. Sheppard, in Time
, viewed the book's concerns as ethnic: "There is a great distance between Portnoy's Complaint
, with its stage-Jewish parents, and Patrimony, the perfect eulogy for a stiff-necked elder of the tribe. Yet in celebrating his father, and by implication the source of his own character, Roth has not strayed from the long path he has cut for himself: to dramatize the adventure of assimilation in all its anxiety, humor and fertile illusions. As a writer and a son, he has now dotted the i's and crossed the t's." In The New York Times Book Review
, critic and future U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky
wrote, "In a cunningly straightforward way, 'Patrimony' tells one of the central true stories many Americans share nowadays: the agonized, sometimes comic labor of a family and a dying parent who must deal with all the loyalties and grudges of their past while coping with their transformed future as dictated by the invasive, also benign pressures of modern medicine and its technologies, bureaucratically organized. The struggle that Mr. Roth portrays in often ebullient detail could be summarized abstractly as the effort to keep death as it once was — a phenomenon of one particular human body and soul...It is a spirit that corresponds to the gloriously pragmatic, unpredictable genius of Philip Roth's narrative gifts."
Library of America
This memoir is included in the fifth volume of Philip Roth's collected works Novels and Other Narratives 1986–1991, published by the Library of America
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer Philip Roth
Philip Roth
Philip Milton Roth is an American novelist. He gained fame with the 1959 novella Goodbye, Columbus, an irreverent and humorous portrait of Jewish-American life that earned him a National Book Award...
. It was first published by Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins...
in 1991.
Summary
Roth's memoir recounts the life, decline, and death of his father, Herman Roth, from an inoperable (and originally "benign") brain tumor.Composition
"In keeping with the unseemliness of my profession," as Roth puts it in a late chapter, the author wrote his memoir during his father's medical trials. The tone, he later explained, was not meant to be one of anger. "It was more anxiety and bewilderment. This was all new to me, all new to him, and I felt powerless to find a way to help him. We went through this experience together."Awards
Patrimony received the 1992 National Book Critics Circle AwardNational Book Critics Circle Award
The National Book Critics Circle Award is an annual award given by the National Book Critics Circle to promote the finest books and reviews published in English....
for autobiography. It was his second Book Critics Circle Award, after a 1987 fiction prize for The Counterlife
The Counterlife
The Counterlife is a novel by the American author Philip Roth. It is the fourth full novel to feature the fictional novelist Nathan Zuckerman. When The Counterlife was published, Zuckerman had most recently appeared in a novella called The Prague Orgy, the epilogue to the omnibus volume Zuckerman...
.
Reception
The book was enthusiastically received. Entertainment Weekly'sEntertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
critic L.S. Klepp gave the memoir an "A": " Blunt and devout, comfortless and bracing, Patrimony is a triumph of unflinching memory." Robert M. Adams, in The New York Review of Books
The New York Review of Books
The New York Review of Books is a fortnightly magazine with articles on literature, culture and current affairs. Published in New York City, it takes as its point of departure that the discussion of important books is itself an indispensable literary activity...
called Roth's work "a major achievement." R.Z. Sheppard, in Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, viewed the book's concerns as ethnic: "There is a great distance between Portnoy's Complaint
Portnoy's Complaint
Portnoy's Complaint is the American novel that turned its author Philip Roth into a major celebrity, sparking a storm of controversy over its explicit and candid treatment of sexuality, including detailed depictions of masturbation using various props including a piece of liver...
, with its stage-Jewish parents, and Patrimony, the perfect eulogy for a stiff-necked elder of the tribe. Yet in celebrating his father, and by implication the source of his own character, Roth has not strayed from the long path he has cut for himself: to dramatize the adventure of assimilation in all its anxiety, humor and fertile illusions. As a writer and a son, he has now dotted the i's and crossed the t's." In The New York Times Book Review
The New York Times Book Review
The New York Times Book Review is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to The New York Times in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely read book review publications in the industry. The offices are located near Times Square in New York...
, critic and future U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky
Robert Pinsky
Robert Pinsky is an American poet, essayist, literary critic, and translator. From 1997 to 2000, he served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. Pinsky is the author of nineteen books, most of which are collections of his own poetry...
wrote, "In a cunningly straightforward way, 'Patrimony' tells one of the central true stories many Americans share nowadays: the agonized, sometimes comic labor of a family and a dying parent who must deal with all the loyalties and grudges of their past while coping with their transformed future as dictated by the invasive, also benign pressures of modern medicine and its technologies, bureaucratically organized. The struggle that Mr. Roth portrays in often ebullient detail could be summarized abstractly as the effort to keep death as it once was — a phenomenon of one particular human body and soul...It is a spirit that corresponds to the gloriously pragmatic, unpredictable genius of Philip Roth's narrative gifts."
Cover
The cover photograph shows two generations of Roths: the author's father, older brother Sandy, and the writer himself, as a boy.Library of AmericaLibrary of AmericaThe Library of America is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature.- Overview and history :Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LoA has published over 200 volumes by a wide range of authors from Mark Twain to Philip...
This memoir is included in the fifth volume of Philip Roth's collected works Novels and Other Narratives 1986–1991, published by the Library of AmericaLibrary of America
The Library of America is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature.- Overview and history :Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LoA has published over 200 volumes by a wide range of authors from Mark Twain to Philip...
.