Writer:
Ioanna Balafa
Philip's
Roth book "Patrimony"describes the true story of the author’s father
illness course. All Roth’s books express human emotions with much intensity and
sensitivity, but this book moves deeply as it unfolds step by step the process
of switching positions. How the father becomes the son and the son becomes the
father. One of the most awarded American writers who testify his personal
history as the outcome of a definitely unpredictable narrative as delight for
the reader despite the struggle for survival that runs through all the pages of
the book, which was proclaimed of the "Time" magazine as the best
book of 1993 in the category of nonfiction prose.
Philip Roth is mainly known for his books about history, identity, ideologies clash of gender, Judaism, fascism, immigration, war, minorities and the bubble of the American dream. The "Patrimony" combines all his writing talent and moves because his goal is not consolation but finding the truth of himself, of his father, of his fear of death and of death itself. Points out that man is vulnerable, life is unpredictable and family ties are fragile and solid at the same time. The descriptions are vivid and also full of humor, something that makes the reading “lighter” every now and then.
His father is described as a self-made man who supported his family by working as an insurer. The illness that strikes paralyzes half his face and from that point begins the realistic description of the struggle with a brain tumor. The author/son is standing beside him, fighting with his own thoughts, interpreting his father character over the years and analyzing on their past differences as for example the relation of his father with his mother before and after her death, under the light of the imminent end of life.
The final ordeal is an ordeal of both father and son. How much support can he stand beside him, taking care of him effectively and not superficially? In the "Patrimony" the father used to be a brawny young, charming and with countless stories to tell, battling with the end while death is known from the beginning. The son is asked to make it through all that tedious and obstinate process.
The father is between depression and acceptance of the disease. Through book’s pages we discover or remember that human relationships are marginal, especially when family entangled feelings of guilt with those of love, giving the impression of the last fight, where father and son are invited to '' overcome the gap of physical alienation'' .
The book was written while Roth’s father was still alive. The immediacy and emotional intensity are a shock. The humor which defensively balances the pain, is a pleasant surprise. The word love is nailed to the reader's mind when author's purpose is not the teaching of what he calls love and how we should express it to those who need it at their most difficult moments. Its purpose is remembering what himself emphasizes at the end of the book, not to forget. There are no expressional exaggerations and the narrative flows effortlessly. It’s not a melodrama and it’s not either drifting by “easy” thrills but is dragging the reader into identification.
It is experiential and every sentence reveals the author’s mental struggle. The greatness of narrative lies in the fact that the story of his father is a human story of the next door which acquires a universal literary value. And as difficult or harsh seem the descriptions, we can read it again and again simply because it represents life itself, truth itself as narratives and images of patient care remind the mother who wash and clean a baby but in a strictly private way. A reminding of the total commitment that somehow all are invited to meet at some point in their life and reminding to choose the way to do that.
Philip Roth wants to keep alive the memories of his family and make his father's death as painless as possible and give to him as much dignity. What awaits one by his father? By his parents? What someone inherit? Material possessions, feelings, aspirations? Guilt? Love? None of these and all of these? The author, however, the only heritage he considers is the shaving cup his father left him without any further requirements of the covenant.
A sensitive hymn to the father that gives impetus to search for answers to author’s personal questions and to the reader's existential anxieties. The whole story is described by a calmness that scares at first but excites until the end.
Philip Roth is mainly known for his books about history, identity, ideologies clash of gender, Judaism, fascism, immigration, war, minorities and the bubble of the American dream. The "Patrimony" combines all his writing talent and moves because his goal is not consolation but finding the truth of himself, of his father, of his fear of death and of death itself. Points out that man is vulnerable, life is unpredictable and family ties are fragile and solid at the same time. The descriptions are vivid and also full of humor, something that makes the reading “lighter” every now and then.
His father is described as a self-made man who supported his family by working as an insurer. The illness that strikes paralyzes half his face and from that point begins the realistic description of the struggle with a brain tumor. The author/son is standing beside him, fighting with his own thoughts, interpreting his father character over the years and analyzing on their past differences as for example the relation of his father with his mother before and after her death, under the light of the imminent end of life.
The final ordeal is an ordeal of both father and son. How much support can he stand beside him, taking care of him effectively and not superficially? In the "Patrimony" the father used to be a brawny young, charming and with countless stories to tell, battling with the end while death is known from the beginning. The son is asked to make it through all that tedious and obstinate process.
The father is between depression and acceptance of the disease. Through book’s pages we discover or remember that human relationships are marginal, especially when family entangled feelings of guilt with those of love, giving the impression of the last fight, where father and son are invited to '' overcome the gap of physical alienation'' .
The book was written while Roth’s father was still alive. The immediacy and emotional intensity are a shock. The humor which defensively balances the pain, is a pleasant surprise. The word love is nailed to the reader's mind when author's purpose is not the teaching of what he calls love and how we should express it to those who need it at their most difficult moments. Its purpose is remembering what himself emphasizes at the end of the book, not to forget. There are no expressional exaggerations and the narrative flows effortlessly. It’s not a melodrama and it’s not either drifting by “easy” thrills but is dragging the reader into identification.
It is experiential and every sentence reveals the author’s mental struggle. The greatness of narrative lies in the fact that the story of his father is a human story of the next door which acquires a universal literary value. And as difficult or harsh seem the descriptions, we can read it again and again simply because it represents life itself, truth itself as narratives and images of patient care remind the mother who wash and clean a baby but in a strictly private way. A reminding of the total commitment that somehow all are invited to meet at some point in their life and reminding to choose the way to do that.
Philip Roth wants to keep alive the memories of his family and make his father's death as painless as possible and give to him as much dignity. What awaits one by his father? By his parents? What someone inherit? Material possessions, feelings, aspirations? Guilt? Love? None of these and all of these? The author, however, the only heritage he considers is the shaving cup his father left him without any further requirements of the covenant.
A sensitive hymn to the father that gives impetus to search for answers to author’s personal questions and to the reader's existential anxieties. The whole story is described by a calmness that scares at first but excites until the end.
(from tovivlio.net)
