Philip Roth, I Married a Communist

David Rampton (University of Ottawa)

Ed. by Christopher Hugh Gair, University of Glasgow
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1998

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

I Married a Communist (1998) is part of a trilogy -- with American Pastoral (1997) and The Human Stain (2000) -- in which Roth offers his take on some crucial periods in twentieth-century American history. Focussing on the anti-communist fervor in the United States after World War Two, I Married a Communist tells the story of Ira Ringold, a ditchdigger turned radio star, famous for playing figures like Abraham Lincoln in debates about slavery and for criticizing American capitalism and the way it treats its workers. He is one of Roth’s most sharply drawn characters: his credulity, impulsiveness, single-mindedness, and self-destructiveness affect his personal life as profoundly as they do his …

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2412 words

Citation: Rampton, David. "I Married a Communist". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 September 2009 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=21009, accessed 24 November 2024.]

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