Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Roth On the Future of the Novel

Philip Roth

Philip Roth. Photograph: Orjan F Ellingvag / Dagbladet / Corbis

[Roth's is a pessimistic view of the novel's future.]

Philip Roth's late run of productivity has long been a source of wonder in the literary world, with his latest novel coming out this week less than a year after the last, and another already complete. But the 76-year-old's own energy is not, according to him at any rate, any reflection of vibrant life in fiction itself. Roth has long been pessimistic about the survival of the novel in a gaudy, short-attention-span culture, but his latest prophesy is one of his bleakest yet, predicting that the form will dwindle to a "cultic" minority enthusiasm within 25 years.

Read more in The Guardian.

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