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Everyman
There is no more decorated American writer living today than Philip Roth, the New York Times best-selling author of American Pastoral, The Human Stain, and The Plot Against America. He has won a Pulitzer Prize, two National Book Awards, two National Book Critics Circle Awards, two PEN/Faulkner Awards, and numerous other distinctions.
The hero of Everyman is obsessed with mortality. As he reminds himself at one point, "I'm 34! Worry about oblivion when you're 75." But he cannot help himself. He is the ex-husband in three marriages gone wrong. He is the father of two sons who detest him, despite a daughter who adores him. And as his health worsens, he is the envious brother of a much fitter man. A masterful portrait of one man's inner struggles, Everyman is a brilliant showcase for one of the world's most distinguished novelists.
The hero of Everyman is obsessed with mortality. As he reminds himself at one point, "I'm 34! Worry about oblivion when you're 75." But he cannot help himself. He is the ex-husband in three marriages gone wrong. He is the father of two sons who detest him, despite a daughter who adores him. And as his health worsens, he is the envious brother of a much fitter man. A masterful portrait of one man's inner struggles, Everyman is a brilliant showcase for one of the world's most distinguished novelists.
182 pages, Paperback
First published May 9, 2006
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About the author
Philip Roth
262books7,074followersPhilip Milton Roth was an American novelist and short-story writer. Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophically and formally blurring the distinction between reality and fiction, for its "sensual, ingenious style" and for its provocative explorations of American identity. He first gained attention with the 1959 short story collection Goodbye, Columbus, which won the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction. Ten years later, he published the bestseller Portnoy's Complaint. Nathan Zuckerman, Roth's literary alter ego, narrates several of his books. A fictionalized Philip Roth narrates some of his others, such as the alternate history The Plot Against America.
Roth was one of the most honored American writers of his generation. He received the National Book Critics Circle award for The Counterlife, the PEN/Faulkner Award for Operation Shylock, The Human Stain, and Everyman, a second National Book Award for Sabbath's Theater, and the Pulitzer Prize for American Pastoral. In 2005, the Library of America began publishing his complete works, making him the second author so anthologized while still living, after Eudora Welty. Harold Bloom named him one of the four greatest American novelists of his day, along with Cormac McCarthy, Thomas Pynchon, and Don DeLillo. In 2001, Roth received the inaugural Franz Kafka Prize in Prague.
Roth was one of the most honored American writers of his generation. He received the National Book Critics Circle award for The Counterlife, the PEN/Faulkner Award for Operation Shylock, The Human Stain, and Everyman, a second National Book Award for Sabbath's Theater, and the Pulitzer Prize for American Pastoral. In 2005, the Library of America began publishing his complete works, making him the second author so anthologized while still living, after Eudora Welty. Harold Bloom named him one of the four greatest American novelists of his day, along with Cormac McCarthy, Thomas Pynchon, and Don DeLillo. In 2001, Roth received the inaugural Franz Kafka Prize in Prague.
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October 15, 2021
Everyman, Philip Roth
Everyman is a novel by Philip Roth, published by Houghton Mifflin in May 2006. It won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction in 2007. It is Roth's third novel to receive the prize.
The book begins at the funeral of its protagonist. The remainder of the book, which ends with his death, looks mournfully back on episodes from his life, including his childhood, where he and his older brother, Howie, worked in his father's shop, Everyman's Jewelry Store.
He has been married three times, with two sons from his first marriage who resent him for leaving their mother, and one daughter from his second marriage who treats him with kindness and compassion, though he divorced her mother after beginning an affair with a 24-year-old Danish model, who subsequently became his third wife.
Having divorced her as well, he has moved in his old age to a retirement community at the New Jersey shore, where he lives alone and attempts to paint, having passed up a career as an artist early in his life to work in advertising in order to support himself and his family.
The book traces the protagonist's feelings as he gets increasingly old and sick, and his reflections of his own past, which has included his share of misdeeds and mistakes, as he ponders his impending death. ...
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز هفتم ماه ژانویه سال 2011میلادی
عنوان: یکی مثل همه؛ نویسنده: فلیپ راث؛ پیمان خاکسار؛ تهران؛ چشمه، 1389، در138ص، شابک9789643626778؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان ایالات متحده امریکا - سده 20م
مراسم خاکسپاری چه آشناست، کودکیم را باز زنده کرد، پشت سر بزرگان قوم راه میافتادیم، به سوی خاک، هرچه حاشا کنیم، کس در این دیار نیست، که این داستان برایش آشنا نباشد؛ رمانی با روساختی ساده، که در آن نویسنده، روند زندگی، و زوال تدریجی، و مرگ قهرمان بی‌نا� داستان را، بیان می‌کند� داستان، با مرگ شخصیت اصلی رمان، و مراسم خاکسپاری او، آغاز می‌شود� در ادامه «راث» به شرح کوتاهی از زندگی قهرمان میپردازد؛ داستان دلخواسته های او، بیماری‌ها� ازدواج‌ها� و خیانت� به همسرانش؛ و در نهایت مرگ او از راه میرسد؛ با وجود اینکه لحن داستان ناامید� کننده است اما در جاهایی نیز لحظات خوش زندگی او نیز بازگو می‌شو�
نقل از متن کتاب: (از برادرزاده� اش پرسید: «مگه غربی‌ه� رو تبت راه می‌دن؟»�
راب گفت: «معلومه که راه می‌دن� سه هفته� ی دیگه برمی‌گردن� اگه پیغامی براشون دارین میتونم براشون ایمیل کنم؛ هر وقت کسی تلفن می‌زن� همین کارو می‌کن�.»؛
نه لازم نیست؛ برادرات چه طورن راب؟؛
همه شون خوبن؛ شما چه طورین؟
گفت: «دارم بهترمی شم»؛ و گوشی را گذاشت
خب، سه بار طلاق گرفته بود؛ یک شوهر سریالی بود، که بیشتر به ندانم کاری، و گناه شهره بود، تا وفاداری؛ حالا هم دیگر مجبور بود، تنهایی از پس همه� چیز برآید؛ از زمان بیست� و چند سالگی، که خیلی به خودش اطمینان داشت، تا حدود پنجاه� سالگی، توجه تمام زنانی را که می‌خواست� جلب کرده بود؛ از زمان ورود به دانشکده� ی هنر، این روند، هیچ‌وق� متوقف نشده بود؛ به نظر می‌رسید� سرنوشت چیزی جز این، برایش مقدر نکرده؛ ولی بعد چیزی پیش� بینی� نشده، اتفاق افتاد؛ حدود سه� ربع قرن بود، که داشت زندگی می‌کرد� و حالا آن زندگی پربار، و پر از فعالیت، به باد رفته بود؛ دیگر نه جذابیت مردی مولد را داشت، و نه قادر بود لذت‌ها� مردانه را، در خود، بیدار کند؛ دیگر تلاش چندانی هم نمی‌کرد� که اشتیاقی در خود برانگیزد؛ برای مدتی پیش خودش فکر می‌کرد� شاید عنصری که حذف� شده، دوباره بازگردد، و او را دوباره صاحب حرمت کند، و بر برتری� اش، صحه بگذارد؛ فکر می‌کرد� مقامی که به� اشتباه از او گرفته� شده، دوباره به او بر خواهد گشت، و می‌توان� زندگی را، از همان‌جای� که چند سال پیش، ترکش کرده بود، دوباره از سر بگیرد؛ ولی حالا بر او آشکار شده بود، که دارد مثل هر سال، خرده� ای دیگر از فرایند کم و کمتر شدن را، از سر می‌گذراند� و مجبور است که بنشیند، و روزهای بی� هدفش را تا آخر نگاه کند - روزهای بی‌هدف� و شب‌ها� متزلزل، و کنار آمدن با تحلیل جسمانی، از روی ناتوانی، و غم روزهای آخر، و انتظار و انتظار برای هیچ؛ با خودش فکر کرد، آخر کار همین می‌شود� این چیزی است که به فکرت هم نمی‌رسی�.)؛ پایان نقل
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 17/10/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 22/07/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
Everyman is a novel by Philip Roth, published by Houghton Mifflin in May 2006. It won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction in 2007. It is Roth's third novel to receive the prize.
The book begins at the funeral of its protagonist. The remainder of the book, which ends with his death, looks mournfully back on episodes from his life, including his childhood, where he and his older brother, Howie, worked in his father's shop, Everyman's Jewelry Store.
He has been married three times, with two sons from his first marriage who resent him for leaving their mother, and one daughter from his second marriage who treats him with kindness and compassion, though he divorced her mother after beginning an affair with a 24-year-old Danish model, who subsequently became his third wife.
Having divorced her as well, he has moved in his old age to a retirement community at the New Jersey shore, where he lives alone and attempts to paint, having passed up a career as an artist early in his life to work in advertising in order to support himself and his family.
The book traces the protagonist's feelings as he gets increasingly old and sick, and his reflections of his own past, which has included his share of misdeeds and mistakes, as he ponders his impending death. ...
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز هفتم ماه ژانویه سال 2011میلادی
عنوان: یکی مثل همه؛ نویسنده: فلیپ راث؛ پیمان خاکسار؛ تهران؛ چشمه، 1389، در138ص، شابک9789643626778؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان ایالات متحده امریکا - سده 20م
مراسم خاکسپاری چه آشناست، کودکیم را باز زنده کرد، پشت سر بزرگان قوم راه میافتادیم، به سوی خاک، هرچه حاشا کنیم، کس در این دیار نیست، که این داستان برایش آشنا نباشد؛ رمانی با روساختی ساده، که در آن نویسنده، روند زندگی، و زوال تدریجی، و مرگ قهرمان بی‌نا� داستان را، بیان می‌کند� داستان، با مرگ شخصیت اصلی رمان، و مراسم خاکسپاری او، آغاز می‌شود� در ادامه «راث» به شرح کوتاهی از زندگی قهرمان میپردازد؛ داستان دلخواسته های او، بیماری‌ها� ازدواج‌ها� و خیانت� به همسرانش؛ و در نهایت مرگ او از راه میرسد؛ با وجود اینکه لحن داستان ناامید� کننده است اما در جاهایی نیز لحظات خوش زندگی او نیز بازگو می‌شو�
نقل از متن کتاب: (از برادرزاده� اش پرسید: «مگه غربی‌ه� رو تبت راه می‌دن؟»�
راب گفت: «معلومه که راه می‌دن� سه هفته� ی دیگه برمی‌گردن� اگه پیغامی براشون دارین میتونم براشون ایمیل کنم؛ هر وقت کسی تلفن می‌زن� همین کارو می‌کن�.»؛
نه لازم نیست؛ برادرات چه طورن راب؟؛
همه شون خوبن؛ شما چه طورین؟
گفت: «دارم بهترمی شم»؛ و گوشی را گذاشت
خب، سه بار طلاق گرفته بود؛ یک شوهر سریالی بود، که بیشتر به ندانم کاری، و گناه شهره بود، تا وفاداری؛ حالا هم دیگر مجبور بود، تنهایی از پس همه� چیز برآید؛ از زمان بیست� و چند سالگی، که خیلی به خودش اطمینان داشت، تا حدود پنجاه� سالگی، توجه تمام زنانی را که می‌خواست� جلب کرده بود؛ از زمان ورود به دانشکده� ی هنر، این روند، هیچ‌وق� متوقف نشده بود؛ به نظر می‌رسید� سرنوشت چیزی جز این، برایش مقدر نکرده؛ ولی بعد چیزی پیش� بینی� نشده، اتفاق افتاد؛ حدود سه� ربع قرن بود، که داشت زندگی می‌کرد� و حالا آن زندگی پربار، و پر از فعالیت، به باد رفته بود؛ دیگر نه جذابیت مردی مولد را داشت، و نه قادر بود لذت‌ها� مردانه را، در خود، بیدار کند؛ دیگر تلاش چندانی هم نمی‌کرد� که اشتیاقی در خود برانگیزد؛ برای مدتی پیش خودش فکر می‌کرد� شاید عنصری که حذف� شده، دوباره بازگردد، و او را دوباره صاحب حرمت کند، و بر برتری� اش، صحه بگذارد؛ فکر می‌کرد� مقامی که به� اشتباه از او گرفته� شده، دوباره به او بر خواهد گشت، و می‌توان� زندگی را، از همان‌جای� که چند سال پیش، ترکش کرده بود، دوباره از سر بگیرد؛ ولی حالا بر او آشکار شده بود، که دارد مثل هر سال، خرده� ای دیگر از فرایند کم و کمتر شدن را، از سر می‌گذراند� و مجبور است که بنشیند، و روزهای بی� هدفش را تا آخر نگاه کند - روزهای بی‌هدف� و شب‌ها� متزلزل، و کنار آمدن با تحلیل جسمانی، از روی ناتوانی، و غم روزهای آخر، و انتظار و انتظار برای هیچ؛ با خودش فکر کرد، آخر کار همین می‌شود� این چیزی است که به فکرت هم نمی‌رسی�.)؛ پایان نقل
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 17/10/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 22/07/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
April 28, 2024
In addition to my usual translations, I’ve decided to read at least one book by famous authors I have not previously read. So I’ll try Philip Roth. But wait! � eons ago I read Portnoy’s Complaint � didn’t everyone back then (1969)? Lol.
The review contains mild SPOILERS.
Everyman is a chronicle of the end of the life of a supposedly average man. The story begins with his family and friends gathering for his funeral and ends with his death. He reflects back on his upbringing and his adult life, especially his final years � retirement, social security, Medicare, hospitalizations, operations.
He has moved out of New York after the events of 9-11 and lives in a ‘senior village� in New Jersey. He takes up art to occupy his empty days. He was a talented painter as a kid but never had time to pursue it as an adult.
He contrasts his numerous health problems with the situation of his older brother who has none, and he’s envious. The main character is in his early 70’s; his brother mid-70’s. He’s angry at the gods for his health problems because he tried to do the right things: he never smoked, drinks only moderately, exercises. But he’s actually angry at his brother for his brother's good health. He watches friends and acquaintances die; some suddenly, some slowly and painfully, some from suicide.
He has several ex’s and three adult children: two estranged sons and a loving, doting daughter. As he looks back he thinks of himself as (1) a lousy husband who could not be faithful (2) a terrible father (3) an excellent advertising executive who made big money and (4) a mediocre artist. As he looks back over his life, his mantra is: THAT’S THE WAY I AM, I COULDN’T HELP MYSELF. Frank Sinatra’s ‘I Did it My Way� comes to mind.
He gives art classes at the senior center.
There’s humor, as when his brother referred to one of his brides, twenty years younger, as ‘…that titanically ineffective cover girl you married…�
It’s hard for me to rate this book. I am tempted to call it a ‘self-help manual,� lol, but the author is not really a guy I want to take advice from. It’s more of a guide to ‘what to expect as you age.� It reminds me too of John Updike's collection of short stories about aging . I’m the same age as Roth when he wrote this book in 2006. So, can I expect to live to 85 as Roth (1933-2018) and my father did?
I liked the story; it’s good but not stellar writing in a literary sense. But I’ll give it a 4, maybe 4.5.
Top photo from picayuneitem.com
Photo from aplaceformom.com
The author from newyorker.com
The review contains mild SPOILERS.
Everyman is a chronicle of the end of the life of a supposedly average man. The story begins with his family and friends gathering for his funeral and ends with his death. He reflects back on his upbringing and his adult life, especially his final years � retirement, social security, Medicare, hospitalizations, operations.
He has moved out of New York after the events of 9-11 and lives in a ‘senior village� in New Jersey. He takes up art to occupy his empty days. He was a talented painter as a kid but never had time to pursue it as an adult.
He contrasts his numerous health problems with the situation of his older brother who has none, and he’s envious. The main character is in his early 70’s; his brother mid-70’s. He’s angry at the gods for his health problems because he tried to do the right things: he never smoked, drinks only moderately, exercises. But he’s actually angry at his brother for his brother's good health. He watches friends and acquaintances die; some suddenly, some slowly and painfully, some from suicide.
He has several ex’s and three adult children: two estranged sons and a loving, doting daughter. As he looks back he thinks of himself as (1) a lousy husband who could not be faithful (2) a terrible father (3) an excellent advertising executive who made big money and (4) a mediocre artist. As he looks back over his life, his mantra is: THAT’S THE WAY I AM, I COULDN’T HELP MYSELF. Frank Sinatra’s ‘I Did it My Way� comes to mind.
He gives art classes at the senior center.
There’s humor, as when his brother referred to one of his brides, twenty years younger, as ‘…that titanically ineffective cover girl you married…�
It’s hard for me to rate this book. I am tempted to call it a ‘self-help manual,� lol, but the author is not really a guy I want to take advice from. It’s more of a guide to ‘what to expect as you age.� It reminds me too of John Updike's collection of short stories about aging . I’m the same age as Roth when he wrote this book in 2006. So, can I expect to live to 85 as Roth (1933-2018) and my father did?
I liked the story; it’s good but not stellar writing in a literary sense. But I’ll give it a 4, maybe 4.5.
Top photo from picayuneitem.com
Photo from aplaceformom.com
The author from newyorker.com
October 10, 2014
MY STRUGGLE WITH THE WORLD’S GREATEST LIVING NOVELIST �
When I checked how many Roth books I’ve read I was shocked. Portnoy’s Complaint � okay, it was allegedly quite naughty, so yeah, I read that. Operation Shylock � okay, that one is brilliant, and may be the source of the problem. It persuaded me that this guy was actually great. Intoxicated with hilarious Jewish self-parody, I swandived into the rest of it. But then came a blow to the head and a solid one to the body � American Pastoral, what nonsense, and Sabbath’s Theater, o what bombastic trying-to-shock-us drivel�. And still people that I actually know in real life, never mind those critics chorusing like The Supremes to the tune of Baby Love
Philip Roth, oo Philip Roth
We love you ooo ooo Philip Roth
You’re one of the really good guys
We are crying out our eyes
Cause you deserve the Nobel Prize
Philip Philip Philip oooo!
kept pressing Roth upon me, in the manner of the French waiter serving Mr Creosote in Monty Python’s Meaning of Life � just one leetle after-dinner novel, it’s verrrrry short, go onnn�. So I read also The Dying Animal and got the usual offensive stuff � a Goodreader whose name shamefully I cannot recall summed up the entire work of Philip Roth in FIVE WORDS, in a throwaway comment, this is brilliant : Meanwhile, back at the penis� that’s it. All of Philip Roth’s work in five words. Meanwhile back at the penis. So after the horrible Dying Animal, goodbye Philip? No, I was again persuaded to give Nemesis a go � and hey, it was really good! Damn you to hell, Roth. Stop messing with me! And so, heck, one last shake of this dice � Everyman.
FANFARE : ENTER PENIS STAGE LEFT
Everyman trundles mopily along whining and blathering about old age and its miseries for 107 pages and the penis hardly gets a mention. Okay, good. Let’s keep it that way. But no, here it is on page 108 and it has the same miraculous powers over young women as it does in previous Roth books. If Roth novels bear any relation to reality, the word should go out to all middle-aged guys : go to New York immediately, 19 year old girls are gagging to shag you. As Daniel Barenboim is with his baton, so shall you be with your penis. All you have to do is turn up in a Manhattan office. Any one will do.
Okay, fortunately the penis doesn’t stick around too long. Then it’s back to more moaning and moping.
O MY GOD I’M OLD AND UGLY AND ILL AND I’M GONNA DIE ALONE AND IN PAIN
That could be the subtitle of this mercifully short novel. Sample sentence:
The worst of being unbearably alone was that you had to bear it � either that or you were sunk.
When our author attempts less prosaic prose it makes the reader cringe somewhat :
From the age of ten she’d been like that � a pure and sensible girl, besmirched only by her unstinting generosity, harmlessly hiding from unhappiness by blotting out the faults of everyone dear to her and by overloving love. Baling forgiveness as though it were so much hay.
We could spend hours on what is so bad about that passage, but � overloving love? Baling forgiveness?
SO, ER, I HAVEN’T REALLY BEEN LISTENING, WHAT DID YOU SAY THIS NOVEL IS ABOUT?
Impotently putting up with the physical deterioration and the terminal sadness and the waiting and waiting for nothing.
OH GEE, ER, THANKS
February 18, 2025
“In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on”—Robert Frost
“The meaning of life is that it stops”—Franz Kafka
Everyman is one of four short novels Philip Roth wrote in his later career, including Indignation, The Humbling and Nemesis. Everyman is the name that the narrator’s Jewish father gives to his jewelry store to avoid scaring away the potential Christian customers with his Jewish name. It is also the name of a 15th-century English morality play, after which it came to mean an ordinary individual with whom the audience or reader is supposed to be able to identify easily. We all go though certain things, in other words, and in this case of the 73-year-old author, the things he wants to talk about include the decay of one’s body as one ages, and then that pesky unavoidable death, of course.
As with Indignation and other Roth books, there is a sweet reverence for craft in Everyman, in this case for the work of the narrator’s jeweler father’s work. But this craft-awe makes you also appreciate the craft of Roth’s writing, which in this novella-length book is—in comparison to most of Roth’s work—lean, almost subdued, eschewing bombast for a kind of somber tone. Oh, the narrator is at times angry and unable to reconcile himself to the decline associated with aging, but he’s not all Mickey-Sabbath wacked-out about it.
And there is also again reverence for family and tradition, a theme across so much of Roth. As with Sabbath’s Theater, the main character, a retired art director for an advertising firm, finds himself, close to the end, in a decaying Jewish cemetery, speaking with his parents, where his father tells him (from the grave):
"Look back and atone for what you can atone for, and make the best of what you have left.�
And we see our aging hero does do something in this story more passionately than I can recall almost any male narrator in Roth doing; he repents (among other things going here): “This ordinarily even-tempered man struck furiously at his heart like some fanatic at prayer, and, assailed by remorse not just for this mistake but for all his mistakes, all the ineradicable, stupid, inescapable mistakes � swept away by the misery of his limitations yet acting as if life's every incomprehensible contingency were of his making.�
So is there guilt about issues with women and sexuality that this older surrogate narrator expresses on behalf of its author? Well, our narrator is old—though not without desire, and with a few racy memories that would seem to at times undermine his repentance—and alone, thanks to every mistake he ever made to alienate him from most women except his forgiving daughter Nancy. (He alienates men, too). The most eloquent speech in this book of comparatively few Roth speeches is by the wronged ex Phoebe, who had caught him in his affair with a model, “the Dane,� half his age, for which Phoebe dumps him within a day of his mother’s funeral. This is fiction, and though I imagine Roth in confessional mode here, remorseful for his mistakes, let’s just say what we can know, that this is our fictional everyman narrator’s realization that he is “—the unsuccessful father, the envious brother, the duplicitous husband, the helpless son.�
But if the 15th century tale Everyman is a Morality tale, a tale representing a kind of atonement, this Roth Everyman novel is also (an atheist’s version) of atonement:
“No hocus-pocus about death and God or obsolete fantasies of heaven for him. There was only our bodies, born to live and die on terms decided by the bodies that had lived and died before us.�
Genetics in part determine who we are, not predestination. And it is bones that he connects to, the accumulated bones of his ancestors that he knows he will soon add to, not some idea of the afterlife:
“They were just bones, bones in a box, but their bones were his bones, and he stood as close to the bones as he could, as though the proximity might link him up with them and mitigate the isolation born of losing his future and reconnect him with all that had gone. . . Once he was with those bones he could not leave them, couldn't not talk to them, couldn't but listen to them when they spoke.�
Through all the surgeries, when he is anxious, our narrator recites to himself the names of watches his father sold in his jewelry store. This is an atheist’s prayer or meditation: Benrus, Hamilton, and so on. I like that a lot.
However, though the spirit and determination of our everyman is important to the tale, we know that the body—those bones—will ultimately lose; seven major surgeries in seven years take its toll, of course. But a couple days before that end, in the decaying cemetery, reminiscent of Hamlet, our everyman meets a gravedigger who helps remind him about and comfort him with practical issues of mortality. He just can’t seem to leave the cemetery, and we know he will join them soon; from the first we know this tale is being told by a dead man, (as is the case of the nineteen-year-old narrator of Roth's Indignation).
There’s a kind of stoicism that runs through Everyman: “Just take it as it comes. Hold your ground and take it as it comes. There’s no other way.� But he’s also raging against the dying of the light. He could never do what his art student did, give in to her pain and take sleeping pills.
"As always—and like most everyone else—he didn't want the end to come a minute earlier than it had to."
This is in some ways a simple, straightforward, somber story, but I think it is an often powerful tale of one man’s fighting off mortality, fighting for his life against impossible odds. It’s an older author’s novel for older readers, but a very good one.
“The meaning of life is that it stops”—Franz Kafka
Everyman is one of four short novels Philip Roth wrote in his later career, including Indignation, The Humbling and Nemesis. Everyman is the name that the narrator’s Jewish father gives to his jewelry store to avoid scaring away the potential Christian customers with his Jewish name. It is also the name of a 15th-century English morality play, after which it came to mean an ordinary individual with whom the audience or reader is supposed to be able to identify easily. We all go though certain things, in other words, and in this case of the 73-year-old author, the things he wants to talk about include the decay of one’s body as one ages, and then that pesky unavoidable death, of course.
As with Indignation and other Roth books, there is a sweet reverence for craft in Everyman, in this case for the work of the narrator’s jeweler father’s work. But this craft-awe makes you also appreciate the craft of Roth’s writing, which in this novella-length book is—in comparison to most of Roth’s work—lean, almost subdued, eschewing bombast for a kind of somber tone. Oh, the narrator is at times angry and unable to reconcile himself to the decline associated with aging, but he’s not all Mickey-Sabbath wacked-out about it.
And there is also again reverence for family and tradition, a theme across so much of Roth. As with Sabbath’s Theater, the main character, a retired art director for an advertising firm, finds himself, close to the end, in a decaying Jewish cemetery, speaking with his parents, where his father tells him (from the grave):
"Look back and atone for what you can atone for, and make the best of what you have left.�
And we see our aging hero does do something in this story more passionately than I can recall almost any male narrator in Roth doing; he repents (among other things going here): “This ordinarily even-tempered man struck furiously at his heart like some fanatic at prayer, and, assailed by remorse not just for this mistake but for all his mistakes, all the ineradicable, stupid, inescapable mistakes � swept away by the misery of his limitations yet acting as if life's every incomprehensible contingency were of his making.�
So is there guilt about issues with women and sexuality that this older surrogate narrator expresses on behalf of its author? Well, our narrator is old—though not without desire, and with a few racy memories that would seem to at times undermine his repentance—and alone, thanks to every mistake he ever made to alienate him from most women except his forgiving daughter Nancy. (He alienates men, too). The most eloquent speech in this book of comparatively few Roth speeches is by the wronged ex Phoebe, who had caught him in his affair with a model, “the Dane,� half his age, for which Phoebe dumps him within a day of his mother’s funeral. This is fiction, and though I imagine Roth in confessional mode here, remorseful for his mistakes, let’s just say what we can know, that this is our fictional everyman narrator’s realization that he is “—the unsuccessful father, the envious brother, the duplicitous husband, the helpless son.�
But if the 15th century tale Everyman is a Morality tale, a tale representing a kind of atonement, this Roth Everyman novel is also (an atheist’s version) of atonement:
“No hocus-pocus about death and God or obsolete fantasies of heaven for him. There was only our bodies, born to live and die on terms decided by the bodies that had lived and died before us.�
Genetics in part determine who we are, not predestination. And it is bones that he connects to, the accumulated bones of his ancestors that he knows he will soon add to, not some idea of the afterlife:
“They were just bones, bones in a box, but their bones were his bones, and he stood as close to the bones as he could, as though the proximity might link him up with them and mitigate the isolation born of losing his future and reconnect him with all that had gone. . . Once he was with those bones he could not leave them, couldn't not talk to them, couldn't but listen to them when they spoke.�
Through all the surgeries, when he is anxious, our narrator recites to himself the names of watches his father sold in his jewelry store. This is an atheist’s prayer or meditation: Benrus, Hamilton, and so on. I like that a lot.
However, though the spirit and determination of our everyman is important to the tale, we know that the body—those bones—will ultimately lose; seven major surgeries in seven years take its toll, of course. But a couple days before that end, in the decaying cemetery, reminiscent of Hamlet, our everyman meets a gravedigger who helps remind him about and comfort him with practical issues of mortality. He just can’t seem to leave the cemetery, and we know he will join them soon; from the first we know this tale is being told by a dead man, (as is the case of the nineteen-year-old narrator of Roth's Indignation).
There’s a kind of stoicism that runs through Everyman: “Just take it as it comes. Hold your ground and take it as it comes. There’s no other way.� But he’s also raging against the dying of the light. He could never do what his art student did, give in to her pain and take sleeping pills.
"As always—and like most everyone else—he didn't want the end to come a minute earlier than it had to."
This is in some ways a simple, straightforward, somber story, but I think it is an often powerful tale of one man’s fighting off mortality, fighting for his life against impossible odds. It’s an older author’s novel for older readers, but a very good one.
September 19, 2023
Cînd am deschis cu mai bine de 10 ani în urmă Everyman / Povestea lui Orișcine (într-o altă ediție), nu știam mai nimic despre Philip Roth (1933 - 2018). Mai aveam vreo 3 cărți de el prin casă, dar nu catadicsisem să le răsfoiesc. Nu știam nici că Everyman trimite la o piesă de teatru alegorică din secolul al XV-lea. Pasiunea mea ascuțită pentru proza lui Roth a început odată cu Teatrul lui Sabbath ș Pastorala americană. Prin 2014, deci...
Everyman mi-a plăcut ș nu mi-a plăcut. M-a frapat, înainte de orice, violența erotică a naratorului. Roth nu folosea aluzii poematice. Prezenta ș numea direct. În schimb, mi-a plăcut îndrăzneala autorului de a ridica întrebări incomode. Înclinația asta îl scotea din minți pe Nabokov: „Prozatorul trebuie să se ocupe de stil ș de structura cărții. Problematica morții nu-i treaba lui�. Intolerantul Nabokov greșea. Asta nu înseamnă că nu-mi plac Pnin sau Invitație la eșafod.
Am citit, așadar, un text sobru de propoziții aride. Dar aș fi preferat ca autorul să trateze moartea cu mai multă ironie. Ca în poemele din Carmina Burana, să zicem. Mult mai tîrziu am priceput că acesta este, probabil, tonul cel mai potrivit. Anii care trec tot mai repede ș mai repede îți strivesc zîmbetul de pe buze. Poți privi moartea ș ca o concluzie necesară a unei serii de premise personale de felul următor: declin al trupului, oboseală, ochelari, riduri, pleoape umflate, respirație tot mai grea, spital, asistente de gheață lipsite de orice inhibiție, medici cu priviri de ghips, interdicții (no sex, no smoking), exit...
Într-un interviu, Philip Roth a declarat cam așa (parafrazez):
- Am scris un roman despre moarte ș faptul de a muri. Ce vreți mai mult? Nu vă mai legați de coperta lui neagră. Și coperta Bibliei este neagră...
- Dar n-o să se vîndă. Cititorii preferă culori mai vesele, subiecte mai „ușoare�. Vor cărți care să-i amuze, să-i ajute să înfrunte „valurile vieții�, nu enunțuri aride despre boli, operații, îmbătrînire, aziluri de bătrîni ș moarte. Nu vor vizite în cimitir ș nici conversații cu gropari înțelepți despre meșteșugul de a săpa o groapă exact după lungimea ș lățimea răposatului.
- Chestia asta nu mă interesează, nu m-a interesat niciodată...
N-am transcris discuția literal, am pus ce (ș cît) am înțeles din ea, dar am păstrat cu strictețe spiritul ei. Textul original poate fi citit, oricum, în The Guardian din 14 decembrie 2005. Criticii au privit cu reticență romanul: „Da, se simte gheara leului. Dar stilul e cam sec, lipsit de vigoarea de altădată. În plus, Roth pune prea multe întrebări retorice (aici retoric înseamnă gol, lipsit de sens). E repetitiv�.
*
Deocamdată, vă las acest pasaj: „Tatăl lui avea să zacă nu numai în sicriu, ci şi sub greutatea acelui pămînt şi brusc a văzut gura tatălui său ca şi cum n-ar fi existat nici un sicriu, ca şi cum ţărîna pe care o aruncau în groapă se depunea direct pe el, umplîndu-i gura, orbindu-i ochii, înfundîndu-i nările şi astupîndu-i urechile�.
Și, pentru că am terminat cartea, iar Dumnezeu, mult îndurătorul, m-a mai îngăduit o zi, transcriu încă un pasaj: „S-a așezat lîngă ea pe pat ș i-a luat mîna într-a lui, gîndindu-se: Cînd ești tînăr, contează exteriorul trupului, cum arăți pe dinafară. Cînd îmbătrînești, contează ceea ce e pe dinăuntru ș oamenilor nu le mai pasă cum arăți�. Episodul cu Millicent Kramer mi s-a părut ș acum emoționant.
Everyman mi-a plăcut ș nu mi-a plăcut. M-a frapat, înainte de orice, violența erotică a naratorului. Roth nu folosea aluzii poematice. Prezenta ș numea direct. În schimb, mi-a plăcut îndrăzneala autorului de a ridica întrebări incomode. Înclinația asta îl scotea din minți pe Nabokov: „Prozatorul trebuie să se ocupe de stil ș de structura cărții. Problematica morții nu-i treaba lui�. Intolerantul Nabokov greșea. Asta nu înseamnă că nu-mi plac Pnin sau Invitație la eșafod.
Am citit, așadar, un text sobru de propoziții aride. Dar aș fi preferat ca autorul să trateze moartea cu mai multă ironie. Ca în poemele din Carmina Burana, să zicem. Mult mai tîrziu am priceput că acesta este, probabil, tonul cel mai potrivit. Anii care trec tot mai repede ș mai repede îți strivesc zîmbetul de pe buze. Poți privi moartea ș ca o concluzie necesară a unei serii de premise personale de felul următor: declin al trupului, oboseală, ochelari, riduri, pleoape umflate, respirație tot mai grea, spital, asistente de gheață lipsite de orice inhibiție, medici cu priviri de ghips, interdicții (no sex, no smoking), exit...
Într-un interviu, Philip Roth a declarat cam așa (parafrazez):
- Am scris un roman despre moarte ș faptul de a muri. Ce vreți mai mult? Nu vă mai legați de coperta lui neagră. Și coperta Bibliei este neagră...
- Dar n-o să se vîndă. Cititorii preferă culori mai vesele, subiecte mai „ușoare�. Vor cărți care să-i amuze, să-i ajute să înfrunte „valurile vieții�, nu enunțuri aride despre boli, operații, îmbătrînire, aziluri de bătrîni ș moarte. Nu vor vizite în cimitir ș nici conversații cu gropari înțelepți despre meșteșugul de a săpa o groapă exact după lungimea ș lățimea răposatului.
- Chestia asta nu mă interesează, nu m-a interesat niciodată...
N-am transcris discuția literal, am pus ce (ș cît) am înțeles din ea, dar am păstrat cu strictețe spiritul ei. Textul original poate fi citit, oricum, în The Guardian din 14 decembrie 2005. Criticii au privit cu reticență romanul: „Da, se simte gheara leului. Dar stilul e cam sec, lipsit de vigoarea de altădată. În plus, Roth pune prea multe întrebări retorice (aici retoric înseamnă gol, lipsit de sens). E repetitiv�.
*
Deocamdată, vă las acest pasaj: „Tatăl lui avea să zacă nu numai în sicriu, ci şi sub greutatea acelui pămînt şi brusc a văzut gura tatălui său ca şi cum n-ar fi existat nici un sicriu, ca şi cum ţărîna pe care o aruncau în groapă se depunea direct pe el, umplîndu-i gura, orbindu-i ochii, înfundîndu-i nările şi astupîndu-i urechile�.
Și, pentru că am terminat cartea, iar Dumnezeu, mult îndurătorul, m-a mai îngăduit o zi, transcriu încă un pasaj: „S-a așezat lîngă ea pe pat ș i-a luat mîna într-a lui, gîndindu-se: Cînd ești tînăr, contează exteriorul trupului, cum arăți pe dinafară. Cînd îmbătrînești, contează ceea ce e pe dinăuntru ș oamenilor nu le mai pasă cum arăți�. Episodul cu Millicent Kramer mi s-a părut ș acum emoționant.
February 12, 2016
هذه الرواية هي أول عمل اقرؤه لفيليب روث، ومن الأعمال القليلة التي قرأتها في الأدب الأمريكي
هي رقم 74 في سلسلة الجوائز التي تصدرها الهيئة المصرية
لا أعلم هل يجب أن أصف تلك الرواية بأنها رواية مؤلمة، أم أنها رواية مرعبة
أم أن الرعب منها سببه كل ذلك الألم وكل تلك المعاناة التي تصف بها حياة العجائز
قرأت منذ فترة رواية
عن حياة امرأة أربعينية، وتلك الفترة التي تصل عندها النساء إلى مفترق طرق
تبدأ في النظر إلى خلفها، إلى الماضي
وإلى تلك الوحدة التي تلتهم أيامها بصمت
حين تقرأ رواية فيليب روث، ستعتقد أنها جزء ثانِ من رواية هكذا كانت الوحدة لكن بقلم كاتب آخر
والفارق بينهما أن الأولى بطلتها امرأة
أما تلك فبطلها رجل
ولأن شباب الرجل دائمًا ما يستمر أطول
تجد البطل هنا عجوز سبعيني، لا يشتكي من الوحدة فقط
بل من ذلك الخواء والفراغ الذي يشغل أيامه
فراغ يشغله بمحاسبة نفسه ولومها
صحيح أنه اختار أن يعيش في وحدة، لكن ليس في وحدة غير محتملة. والأسوأ من أن تكون في وحدة غير محتملة هو أنه يتحتم عليك أن تتحملها، إما هذا أو إنك تغرق. أنت تحتاج إلى العمل الشاق لمنع عقلك من أن يُخربك بنظرته الجائعة على الماضي وفيضه الغزير
فقط حين تقترب من نهاية حياتك، وتشعر أنك أصبحت تقف على حافتها
تبدأ بالتطلع إلى تلك الأشياء التي فعلتها وتلك التي لم تفعلها
عمر بأكمله تسأل نفسك فيما أفنيته؟
فالتقدم في العمر ليس معركة؛ التقدم في العمر مذبحة
ويجد نفسه محاطًا بلا أحد، فقط الذكريات والمرض!
المرض الذي يتربص به منذ كان طفلاً وحتى موته
المرض مرعب، تتعذب وتعذب من حولك
تصبح بلا حول ولا قوة، أسير وعبد لذلك الألم
دائمًا المرض هو أسوء كوابيسي، أخشاه أكثر بكثير من الموت
وكأنه لا ينقصني ذلك، حتى صورّه الكاتب بأبشع صوره
من مرض البطل إلى مرض تلميذته ومرض زوجته ومرض أبيه.. إلخ
صورة مفزعة
دائمًا ما كنت أتمنى ألا أعيش كثيرًا، على أن أعيش ذلك العمر بسعادة
أن التفت خلفي لأجد شيء ما يستحق التقدير في هذا العمر القصير
وألا التفت فأجد كثير من الأيام، كثير من الشهور، كثير من السنين من اللاشيء
بعد قراءة تلك الرواية المرعبة
ستتحول تلك الأمنية إلى دعاء ابتهل به إلى الله وأرجو أن يقبله :)))
تمّت
October 8, 2019
Almost perfectly balanced, Everyman reads almost like a funeral dirge. The unnamed protagonist goes over various milestones in his personal life and reflects on the inevitability of death and the difficulties on love. It is a quick read but it leaves a deep impression. As always, Roth's prose is descriptive but not overly so, the dialogues are all highly realistic, and the story is revealed in a manner that keeps you turning the pages and kind of wishing there were more after the end. For me, this is another highpoint in an already celebrated and prolific career for Roth.
I found this short but revealing interview of Philip Roth about Everyman on the NPR website: . Definitely worth a listen!
RIP (1933-2018). One of America's literary giants has left us.
I found this short but revealing interview of Philip Roth about Everyman on the NPR website: . Definitely worth a listen!
RIP (1933-2018). One of America's literary giants has left us.
March 6, 2015
تنها زندگی کردن انتخاب خودش بود، ولی نه تا این اندازه تنها. بدترین جنبه ی تنهایی این است که مجبوری تحملش کنی.یا تحمل می کنی، یا غرق می شوی.باید سخت تلاش کنی تا ذهن گرسنه ات را از نگاه به گذشته بازداری
داستان نثری ساده و در عین حال بسیار گیرا دارد.نویسنده با مهارت تمام هجوم پیری و ترس از نابودی و مرگ آدمی را به نمایش گذاشته است.حسرت از دست رفتن لحظه به لحظه ی عمر و تباهی در انزوا. قهرمان داستان هیچ ویژگی منحصر به فردی ندارد،جز آن که "یکی سست مثل همه" و مانند همه نیز سرانجامی جز مرگ ندارد.روایت در مراسم خاکسپاری شخصیت اول داستان آغاز می شود و پس از آن راوی بازگشت�� به گذشته ی دور و پر از خاطره ی شخص اول، از اغاز تا نابودی یک به یک مصنوعات و موهبت ها و فروریختن آخرین و مستحکم نرین قلعه ی آدمی ،یعنی جسم دارد.از حوادث دوران کودکی می گوید،از ازدواج های پی در پی و شکست های متوالی،از روزمرگی ها و هجوم دوباره و دوباره ی بیماری و مرگ در سال های آخر عمر که در تنهایی ای خودساخته می گذرد.شخصیت بی نام داستان که تا پایان نیز بی نام می ماند،در چند قدمی مرگ حسرت گذشته را می خورد و همه چیز را از دست رفته می بیند.سلامتی و قوای جوانی،فرصت ها،پیوند ها و حتی خانواده.قطاری را تصور می کند که روزبروز از مسافرانش کاسته می شود و اینک،در آستانه آخر��ن عمل جراحی و مرگ،قطار بی مسافر و وی تنهاست. در بعضی قسمت های داستان به خصوص صفحات پایانی، با افکار درهم دیرینه ذهن خویش رو در رو شدم و از این جهت،کتاب تاثیری دو چندان بر من گذاشت.از این رو چهار ستاره نصیب داستان و ترجمه عالی آن می کنم و یک ستاره هم سهم احساس و تجربه ی ناب خواندن کتاب در شب هنگام و سکوت و تنهایی
May 15, 2019
Call it "The Death of Ivan Ilych 2: Modern Times."
It's true, Roth is considered to be a modern day Tolstoy. But is this type of tale (already told and retold)... necessary?
It's all my fault. In my summer marathon of small novels (though inversely large in quality) I've been through devastation after devastation, drama and death... Animal, Michael K., Elizabeth Costello, et al. This one involves the unnamed EVERYMAN, who is, of course, you and me, and it takes the novelistic maneuverings that Roth is so much revered for to transform it into THE QUINTESSENTIAL LIFE STORY. Or is it actually The Story of Death?
Anyway, Everyman goes in & out of the hospital, and this would probably be where most of the action takes part. The second place where most of the action takes place? The cemetery. But Ilych, only by the blunt bump he receives as a stupid oversight, is doomed in a different way than our (modern) Everyman is. Everyman has a say in things, knows the medical lingo, has money. Their lives are different; fates however, irreparably equal.
The Rothian motifs do pile up. We remember the countless cemetery scenes from other Roth novels, but more specifically "Sabbath's Theater." (This one also begins there.) All the sex ("Deception"). All the dire emotions washing over older, broken Jewish men ("The Human Stain").
The anecdote is necessary: always necessary. The themes have not been drained yet. Although the tale is quite specific, it must be mentioned that Roth masters that considerable challenge of making one man stand for the billion of others. The shared fate of death, the Unifyer, is what Roth, as an aging novelist, as an aging man, contemplates; with an ease & with a poetry as brutal as Tolstoy, Roth knows exactly how to earn his IMMORTALITY.
It's true, Roth is considered to be a modern day Tolstoy. But is this type of tale (already told and retold)... necessary?
It's all my fault. In my summer marathon of small novels (though inversely large in quality) I've been through devastation after devastation, drama and death... Animal, Michael K., Elizabeth Costello, et al. This one involves the unnamed EVERYMAN, who is, of course, you and me, and it takes the novelistic maneuverings that Roth is so much revered for to transform it into THE QUINTESSENTIAL LIFE STORY. Or is it actually The Story of Death?
Anyway, Everyman goes in & out of the hospital, and this would probably be where most of the action takes part. The second place where most of the action takes place? The cemetery. But Ilych, only by the blunt bump he receives as a stupid oversight, is doomed in a different way than our (modern) Everyman is. Everyman has a say in things, knows the medical lingo, has money. Their lives are different; fates however, irreparably equal.
The Rothian motifs do pile up. We remember the countless cemetery scenes from other Roth novels, but more specifically "Sabbath's Theater." (This one also begins there.) All the sex ("Deception"). All the dire emotions washing over older, broken Jewish men ("The Human Stain").
The anecdote is necessary: always necessary. The themes have not been drained yet. Although the tale is quite specific, it must be mentioned that Roth masters that considerable challenge of making one man stand for the billion of others. The shared fate of death, the Unifyer, is what Roth, as an aging novelist, as an aging man, contemplates; with an ease & with a poetry as brutal as Tolstoy, Roth knows exactly how to earn his IMMORTALITY.
May 25, 2022
صدرت هذه الرواية في 2006، عندما كان فيليب روث يناهز الثالثة والسبعين من عمرهِ. وقد أنهى حياة بطلهِ، منذ السطر الأول، في عمر الواحد والسبعين، بسكتةٍ قلبية، ذهب به إلى العدم دون أن ينتبه إلى الأمر، «كما خشي أن يحدث طوال حياتِه».
أعتقد بأن فيليب روث جعل بطله، عمدًا، يصغره بعامينِ عند صدور الرواية لكي يقنع نفسهُ بأنّ له مصيرًا مختلفًا، أو بأنه قد نجا. عاشَ روث حتى 2018، وبلغ من العمر 85 عامًا، ولا أستطيع تخيل شيخوخته إلا كما وردت على لسان بطله؛ «الشيخوخة ليست معركة، الشيخوخة مجرزة».
هذه الرواية عن التحلل البطيء للأشياء، عن خيانة الجسد، عن الانمساخ الوئيد للهوية الذي يحدث للمرءِ إذا رزح مدة طويلة تحت المرض. إنه عن حالة «إعادة صياغة» للذات، قسرية ولا تتطلب جبنًا أو شجاعة، لأنها استجابة بسيطة للحياة في حدوثها الفج.
الرواية مليئة برائحة المستشفيات، وغرف العمليات والسرطان والجلطات والكثير من الموت. شعرتُ أحيانًا بأنه يبالغ، ربما يبالغ في مخاوفه، ربما لا يفعل. يكادُ الموتُ ينتصبُ في العمل مثل خصمٍ وحيد.. خصم جدير بمنصبِه كخصم، في حياةٍ عادية لرجل وحيد، ملكتُه الوحيدة هي تدمير العلاقات الحقيقية، والمقامرة بها. رجل برصيد طويل من الندم.
December 28, 2020
رواية "كل رجل" عن الانسان بين الحياة والموت
تبدأ بجنازة بطل الرواية وتنتهي بموته
يتذكر تفاصيل حياته في كل مراحل العمر إلى أن يصل إلى النهاية
مواجهة النفس والاعتراف بالحماقات والندم على الأخطاء
الانتباه والاهتمام بالعلاقات والروابط الصادقة والحقيقية
الأحداث غير مرتبة زمنيا, ينتقل فيليب روث من فترة زمنية إلى أخرى
ومع ذلك يبقى السرد سلس وواقعي
تبدأ بجنازة بطل الرواية وتنتهي بموته
يتذكر تفاصيل حياته في كل مراحل العمر إلى أن يصل إلى النهاية
مواجهة النفس والاعتراف بالحماقات والندم على الأخطاء
الانتباه والاهتمام بالعلاقات والروابط الصادقة والحقيقية
الأحداث غير مرتبة زمنيا, ينتقل فيليب روث من فترة زمنية إلى أخرى
ومع ذلك يبقى السرد سلس وواقعي
June 1, 2012
Yesterday I read Everyman. The novel's not long, maybe 180 small pages, and I wasn't doing anything exciting other than shopping at Costco and dodging a water balloon fight (despite my protestations of “I'm not playing! I'm not playing!�). The book intrigued me because 1) Mary, one of the local librarians, put it on her “recommended� shelf (I mean for real, in the library, not on GR), 2) at least two of my friends hated it, and 3) I needed something short because I finished a novel Saturday and had another coming through the inter-library loan system early this week. I didn't hate Everyman. But I thought it was more yucky than good.
Okay, non sequitur I hope will make sense. Do you read Esquire magazine? I do. I'm not sure why. I think I read Esquire because the subscription costs five bucks a year. Anyway, Esquire provides hilariously weird and out of touch advice for men. The writers often try to talk all tough and knowing when they recommend which of three four hundred dollar shirts you must have in your closet. And how to order drinks in bars. And how to talk with kids about sex. And celebrity profiles in which male movie stars are held up as icons of masculinity. I don't know who these people are who follow Esquire's advice about shoes and women and money, but they're way more loaded than me and crazy insecure.
The guy in Everyman, I think, was into Esquire. That's fine. Knock yourself out. But Roth's primary sin is the implication, in my perception, that his characters are somehow representative of American males. Now, I guess I only know a couple 70 year olds, but I doubt many are so broken up about not getting a shot at young women that they try to pick up passing joggers. I also don't believe people talk with each other like the characters in Everyman. They go from zero to sixty on the philosophy scale in three inches of dialogue or less. The medical talk was probably the novel's most interesting element. The braindead bravado and self-pity got boring quickly. I resent the idea that Everyman is representative of, uh, every man. Or even most of them. Or a few. Most of us don't buy the belts and toys and advice recommended in Esquire. It's not that the ideas are all bad. We're just not from Esquire world. It's a goofy planet, somewhere in the same solar system as Everyman. Go at your own risk. I'll give Roth another shot, and I kind of remember liking American Pastoral, but I hope his other work is better.
Okay, non sequitur I hope will make sense. Do you read Esquire magazine? I do. I'm not sure why. I think I read Esquire because the subscription costs five bucks a year. Anyway, Esquire provides hilariously weird and out of touch advice for men. The writers often try to talk all tough and knowing when they recommend which of three four hundred dollar shirts you must have in your closet. And how to order drinks in bars. And how to talk with kids about sex. And celebrity profiles in which male movie stars are held up as icons of masculinity. I don't know who these people are who follow Esquire's advice about shoes and women and money, but they're way more loaded than me and crazy insecure.
The guy in Everyman, I think, was into Esquire. That's fine. Knock yourself out. But Roth's primary sin is the implication, in my perception, that his characters are somehow representative of American males. Now, I guess I only know a couple 70 year olds, but I doubt many are so broken up about not getting a shot at young women that they try to pick up passing joggers. I also don't believe people talk with each other like the characters in Everyman. They go from zero to sixty on the philosophy scale in three inches of dialogue or less. The medical talk was probably the novel's most interesting element. The braindead bravado and self-pity got boring quickly. I resent the idea that Everyman is representative of, uh, every man. Or even most of them. Or a few. Most of us don't buy the belts and toys and advice recommended in Esquire. It's not that the ideas are all bad. We're just not from Esquire world. It's a goofy planet, somewhere in the same solar system as Everyman. Go at your own risk. I'll give Roth another shot, and I kind of remember liking American Pastoral, but I hope his other work is better.
February 18, 2025
Philip Roth's "A Man" is an easy book to read. You enter the story slowly and unconsciously slide down to the last page.
Yet the subject is both profound and ordinary. It is about watching oneself live, forward and backward, recognizing oneself in these life paths with a frank look but, at the very least, without complacency.
It is about our impetuosity in youth, our irremediable sanctions, chasing some to subsume others, for good or ill, and building a court, or according to, a desert. It is about loving life and sanctifying it when it becomes fleeting, while we have wasted it, sometimes without counting, when it was offered. Through feeling, we discover the indestructible bond of devotion beyond earthly things and how memory accompanies us here for the best.
Finally, when we talk about earthworks, I would say that we have to cast our net wide to keep an open mind when we realize, albeit a little late, that in a moment of extreme solitude, we can find comfort from an illustrious stranger and how impossible it is to obtain it at the right time, on our impulse, from our loved ones.
Come on, a little appetizer:
Excerpt: He hadn't slept with Phoebe for six years, but he could hardly share that intimate detail with his sons to explain his second divorce. He had been Phoebe's husband for fifteen years, Nancy's live-in father for thirteen, Howie's brother and his parents' son since birth, and a brilliant advertising executive for over twenty years: these titles spoke for him.
Yet the subject is both profound and ordinary. It is about watching oneself live, forward and backward, recognizing oneself in these life paths with a frank look but, at the very least, without complacency.
It is about our impetuosity in youth, our irremediable sanctions, chasing some to subsume others, for good or ill, and building a court, or according to, a desert. It is about loving life and sanctifying it when it becomes fleeting, while we have wasted it, sometimes without counting, when it was offered. Through feeling, we discover the indestructible bond of devotion beyond earthly things and how memory accompanies us here for the best.
Finally, when we talk about earthworks, I would say that we have to cast our net wide to keep an open mind when we realize, albeit a little late, that in a moment of extreme solitude, we can find comfort from an illustrious stranger and how impossible it is to obtain it at the right time, on our impulse, from our loved ones.
Come on, a little appetizer:
Excerpt: He hadn't slept with Phoebe for six years, but he could hardly share that intimate detail with his sons to explain his second divorce. He had been Phoebe's husband for fifteen years, Nancy's live-in father for thirteen, Howie's brother and his parents' son since birth, and a brilliant advertising executive for over twenty years: these titles spoke for him.
December 30, 2014
An old man wants to have sex with a younger woman...
Groundbreaking stuff. (sarcasm font where are you?!)
And yet this won awards, so there must be more to it. Right?
The idea is based on man at the end of a life looking back on it all and trying to figure out if it was a good life. By the standards of many, the main man in Everyman probably can't be considered to have led a good life, at least not a completely angelic one. He's thrice divorced, at least once because of his own infidelity. He left at least one family for the bed of a model. His relationship with two out of the three of his children is bad.
Is that enough to condemn the man? That's questionable, and a question that is pondered through out. Do you as the reader give a shit? That's questionable, and a question you'll ponder through out.
Everyman is Philip Roth's book about Philip Roth. Do you care about Philip Roth? Enough to read a whole book in which he wonders at an old age whether he's been a good person or not? Personally, no, I don't care. However, the man's a good writer and he puts forth good prose. That makes him a good man in certain respects, the sort of respect a reader needs to enjoy a writer's work.
Groundbreaking stuff. (sarcasm font where are you?!)
And yet this won awards, so there must be more to it. Right?
The idea is based on man at the end of a life looking back on it all and trying to figure out if it was a good life. By the standards of many, the main man in Everyman probably can't be considered to have led a good life, at least not a completely angelic one. He's thrice divorced, at least once because of his own infidelity. He left at least one family for the bed of a model. His relationship with two out of the three of his children is bad.
Is that enough to condemn the man? That's questionable, and a question that is pondered through out. Do you as the reader give a shit? That's questionable, and a question you'll ponder through out.
Everyman is Philip Roth's book about Philip Roth. Do you care about Philip Roth? Enough to read a whole book in which he wonders at an old age whether he's been a good person or not? Personally, no, I don't care. However, the man's a good writer and he puts forth good prose. That makes him a good man in certain respects, the sort of respect a reader needs to enjoy a writer's work.
July 8, 2021
4.5
کتاب دوست داشتنی و جالبی بود، هر چند در حینِ مطالعه دائم یه حس رعب آور و تلخ همراه خوانندست...
کتاب "یکی مثلِ همه" راجع به فردی هست که در سن 71 سالگی فوت کرده و بعد از توضیحِ مراسمِ تدفینش، زندگیِ فانیش از کودکی تا لحظه ی مرگ شرح داده میشه. منظور از زندگی: احساساتِ مختلف، روابط، اشتباهات، ترس ها و پشیمونی هاشه.
کتاب به نظر ساده میاد و مرثیه ای برای پیری و مرگ ناگزیرِ بعد از اون هست و حجم کمی هم داره. ولی نویسنده تونسته تو همین کتاب ساده و حجمِ کم احساساتِ یه آدم پیر -و از دست رفته- رو بی نهایت عالی منتقل کنه به مخاطب. شاید یکی از دلایلش این باشه که فیلیپ راث این کتابو تو سن 73 سالگی نوشته.
و دو تا نکته ی جالب تو کتاب نظرمو جلب کرد. اولی اسم کتاب بود: "یکی مثلِ همه". بنظرم این اسم در رابطه با این کتاب، هم ذهن مخاطب رو درگیر میکنه و هم یه تسلی برای خودِ نویسنده ی 73 ساله بوده! یه کنایه ی زیبا به سرنوشتِ محتومِ نوع بشر، هر کسی، همه.
و نکته ی دوم که مؤید نکته� اوله اینه که قهرمان کتاب اسم نداره. که این هم کنایه ی جالبیه. کتاب راجع به کسی هست مثلِ همه، کسی که اسم هم نداره، ولی خصوصیات مثبت و منفیِ اخلاقی داره و تولد و مرگ. مثلِ همه.
کتاب دوست داشتنی و جالبی بود، هر چند در حینِ مطالعه دائم یه حس رعب آور و تلخ همراه خوانندست...
کتاب "یکی مثلِ همه" راجع به فردی هست که در سن 71 سالگی فوت کرده و بعد از توضیحِ مراسمِ تدفینش، زندگیِ فانیش از کودکی تا لحظه ی مرگ شرح داده میشه. منظور از زندگی: احساساتِ مختلف، روابط، اشتباهات، ترس ها و پشیمونی هاشه.
کتاب به نظر ساده میاد و مرثیه ای برای پیری و مرگ ناگزیرِ بعد از اون هست و حجم کمی هم داره. ولی نویسنده تونسته تو همین کتاب ساده و حجمِ کم احساساتِ یه آدم پیر -و از دست رفته- رو بی نهایت عالی منتقل کنه به مخاطب. شاید یکی از دلایلش این باشه که فیلیپ راث این کتابو تو سن 73 سالگی نوشته.
و دو تا نکته ی جالب تو کتاب نظرمو جلب کرد. اولی اسم کتاب بود: "یکی مثلِ همه". بنظرم این اسم در رابطه با این کتاب، هم ذهن مخاطب رو درگیر میکنه و هم یه تسلی برای خودِ نویسنده ی 73 ساله بوده! یه کنایه ی زیبا به سرنوشتِ محتومِ نوع بشر، هر کسی، همه.
و نکته ی دوم که مؤید نکته� اوله اینه که قهرمان کتاب اسم نداره. که این هم کنایه ی جالبیه. کتاب راجع به کسی هست مثلِ همه، کسی که اسم هم نداره، ولی خصوصیات مثبت و منفیِ اخلاقی داره و تولد و مرگ. مثلِ همه.
September 28, 2015
"-Sai cosa mi farebbe bene? - disse lei. - Il suono della voce che è scomparsa".
Sai cosa mi lascia attonita di Philip Roth? La sua assoluta semplicità. Sembra sempre di leggere la stessa storia, quando leggi un romanzo di Roth. Ma non è mai la stessa, anche se in fondo è sempre la stessa storia di solitudine, rimpianto, orgasmi poderosi ecc...
Sai cosa mi lascia attonita di Philip Roth? La sua assoluta semplicità. Sembra sempre di leggere la stessa storia, quando leggi un romanzo di Roth. Ma non è mai la stessa, anche se in fondo è sempre la stessa storia di solitudine, rimpianto, orgasmi poderosi ecc...
February 7, 2017
"Old age isn't a battle. Old age is a massacre."
- Philip Roth
The older I get, the more tolerant I get of Roth's later novellas. I remember thinking when I read one ten plus years ago that they were simply indulgences. Roth throwing off and idea and turning it into a novella. Why couldn't he go back to writing his great novels. Now, as I read some of his last several novels these last several months. Older now. I think I might understand. They aren't as robust as his great novels of the 1990s. But they are still pretty fantastic. They are memoirs. They are ... reflections of life prior to death, life in anticipation of death, life contemplating death. They are the murmurs of a man standing on the edge of the abyss.
There were certain parts of this novel that seemed to touch aspects of my own life. I too had a brother who seemed to have perfect health. My older brother could fail to brush his teeth for a year and not get a cavity. He rarely had a headache, a fever, a cold. He was an Army Ranger and later a decorated helicopter pilot. I was the opposite. Flat feet, pigeon-toed, diabetic, rheumatic, thyroid issues, bad teeth, Marfan syndrome, heart issues, struggling with pain nearly every day of my life.
There seems to exists in brothers that share this weird imbalance a measured shadow. At one level there is care and concern and on another level an almost hero worship that easily slides (at times) into a jealousy and enviousness that makes one empathetic to Cain.
Anyway, this is a very human novel about loneliness, aging, relationships, memory and death. It isn't perfect and far from Roth's best, but it is still very good and FAR better than .
- Philip Roth
The older I get, the more tolerant I get of Roth's later novellas. I remember thinking when I read one ten plus years ago that they were simply indulgences. Roth throwing off and idea and turning it into a novella. Why couldn't he go back to writing his great novels. Now, as I read some of his last several novels these last several months. Older now. I think I might understand. They aren't as robust as his great novels of the 1990s. But they are still pretty fantastic. They are memoirs. They are ... reflections of life prior to death, life in anticipation of death, life contemplating death. They are the murmurs of a man standing on the edge of the abyss.
There were certain parts of this novel that seemed to touch aspects of my own life. I too had a brother who seemed to have perfect health. My older brother could fail to brush his teeth for a year and not get a cavity. He rarely had a headache, a fever, a cold. He was an Army Ranger and later a decorated helicopter pilot. I was the opposite. Flat feet, pigeon-toed, diabetic, rheumatic, thyroid issues, bad teeth, Marfan syndrome, heart issues, struggling with pain nearly every day of my life.
There seems to exists in brothers that share this weird imbalance a measured shadow. At one level there is care and concern and on another level an almost hero worship that easily slides (at times) into a jealousy and enviousness that makes one empathetic to Cain.
Anyway, this is a very human novel about loneliness, aging, relationships, memory and death. It isn't perfect and far from Roth's best, but it is still very good and FAR better than .
March 10, 2017
Όσο μεγαλώνω και ξαναδιαβάζω τα βιβλία του Roth τον εκτιμώ και τον αγαπώ ακόμη περισσοτερο.Ο Roth είναι οι σκέψεις μου,οι προβληματισμοί μου.Είναι ρεαλιστής,κυνικός ,τραγικός,εγκεφαλικός και πάντα επίκαιρος.Δεν ειναι ολα τα βιβλία του καλά αλλα έχει γράψει κάποια που έχουν περίοπτη θέση στην καρδιά μου.Εδώ το θέμα δεν ειναι διόλου ευχάριστο.Θνητότητα,έσχατη μοναχικότητα.Μέσα σε λίγες σελίδες καταφέρνει να συνοψίζει οτι με απασχολεί κατα καιρούς και πάντα τον βρίσκω στο τέλος να μου κλείνει το μάτι με σαρδόνιο χαμόγελο.
January 28, 2018
“Old age isn't a battle, old age is a massacre.�
“He was no more, freed from
being, entering into nowhere without even knowing it. Just as he'd feared from the start.�
“He was no more, freed from
being, entering into nowhere without even knowing it. Just as he'd feared from the start.�
Read
July 29, 2021Philip Roth's roman says nothing new.
It is rather a confrontation of the author with death, justified, somehow, by the desire to revive a neglected medieval literary tradition, usually by contemporaries.
The play begins when "Death" (personified) - announces to Everyman ( a character that represents the whole of humanity) - that time has passed, and he must prepare for the great End.
Shocked, the man goes through different reactions : from denial - to fear, despair, and finally, - to acceptance. Although he tries to persuade others characters to join him on this road ( Beauty, Knowledge, Power ) - he is abandoned by all, and, on this road it is accompanied only by "Good Acts" ( the moralizing-christian character of the play is quite clear).
To preserve the specificity of the piece, we don't know the name of protagonist, - who can, obviously, be anyone.
Roth's story seems to have a reverse morality : we all have a death, the more immortal is how we live our lives.
"Everyman" - does not have to be a story of death, but rather the one of life. That's why Roth starts with the character's death, and then it returns to life.
It is not important that a man died, but that a man lived.
It is rather a confrontation of the author with death, justified, somehow, by the desire to revive a neglected medieval literary tradition, usually by contemporaries.
The play begins when "Death" (personified) - announces to Everyman ( a character that represents the whole of humanity) - that time has passed, and he must prepare for the great End.
Shocked, the man goes through different reactions : from denial - to fear, despair, and finally, - to acceptance. Although he tries to persuade others characters to join him on this road ( Beauty, Knowledge, Power ) - he is abandoned by all, and, on this road it is accompanied only by "Good Acts" ( the moralizing-christian character of the play is quite clear).
To preserve the specificity of the piece, we don't know the name of protagonist, - who can, obviously, be anyone.
Roth's story seems to have a reverse morality : we all have a death, the more immortal is how we live our lives.
"Everyman" - does not have to be a story of death, but rather the one of life. That's why Roth starts with the character's death, and then it returns to life.
It is not important that a man died, but that a man lived.
November 19, 2018
Il protagonista ha vissuto una vita intensa, ha provato gioie dolori , è passato attraverso tre matrimoni, dai quali ha avuto tre figli ; due figli che non lo amano affatto ed una figlia Nancy che invece lo adora, ha perso entrambi i genitori ed invidia suo fratello per l’ottima salute. La stessa saluta che a lui ha voltato le spalle . Cardiopatico , spesso ricoverato i ricordi gli fanno spesso compagnia.
“La vecchiaia non è una battaglia, è un massacro � .
Nonostante tutto il nostro protagonista vive tutto in modo disincantato come se non lo riguardasse, sembra sereno . Poche parole per esprimere il mio parere per questo mio primo Roth , un capolavoro sulla vita , morte e rassegnazione intesa come serena accettazione.
“� impossibile rifare la realtà, devi prendere le cose come vengono �
“La vecchiaia non è una battaglia, è un massacro � .
Nonostante tutto il nostro protagonista vive tutto in modo disincantato come se non lo riguardasse, sembra sereno . Poche parole per esprimere il mio parere per questo mio primo Roth , un capolavoro sulla vita , morte e rassegnazione intesa come serena accettazione.
“� impossibile rifare la realtà, devi prendere le cose come vengono �
September 18, 2009
My first Philip Roth novel.
I listened to it on audio. If you don't think that counts, I understand. I personally think that if it invalidates my opinion, it isn't by much. I think in this case, my basic reaction would have been the same, whether viewed with the eye or listened with the ear.
I've heard passionate arguments for and against Philip Roth here on goodreads for quite some time now. He's one of only a handful of modern-day American writers with boatloads of awards and a strong literary reputation. This is indisputable. If you go to you'll see that six -- count them, SIX -- of his novels are in The NY Times "Best Work of American Fiction of the Last 25 Years" report.
That's very impressive.
Needless to say, I've been jonesing to get my hands on his work.
And after experiencing this, I'm wondering how he has this glowing reputation. Everyman bored me like no novel has in months. It didn't capture my imagination in the least, and at best, only tickled my intellectual curiosity. It was utterly predictable and lacked heavily in both creativity, and passion.
It's about a man getting old in age, facing the prospect of death, looking back on his life, mostly with regret. His failures include cheating on his wife with both his secretary, and with a model half his age. He is afraid of Al-Qaeda after 9/11, and moves out of the city fearing another attack. Neither his regrets -- which are all familiar ones, such as not spending enough time with family -- nor his thoughts about death, are in the least bit novel or interesting.
I also got a feeling that this novel was self serving, like Roth got-off while writing this, falling in love with his descriptions, trying to sound smart. But phrases like "“vitriolic despondency" don't impress me. In fact, they irritate me. To add to that affect, he overplayed the sex theme in all the tired ways, without any spark or flair.
Roth's attempt here is an admirable one in that he faces the issue of old age and death, head-on. But Everyman seemed so forced and play-by-the-book, it was like a high school student wrote the plot. I realize that that's part of Roth's point. With the protagonist not having a name, just being "everyman", the story isn't supposed to come to life. It's supposed to represent the fact that we are all going to have to face, and struggle with, death -- and that it's not pretty. And the topic of death -- when written of with heart, depth, and an appreciation for some of life's magic -- can be capturing to read about. But the affect this had on me was a state of depression, and a general confusion as to Roth's iconic status.
Wondering what I was missing about Roth, I checked to see if this novel was one of the six on the NY Times list I shared earlier. It is not. In fact, what I found was this: "In the course of Everyman Mr. Roth captures the more depressing aspects of aging....But these harrowing evocations of age and infirmity do not a novel make. This book often reads like a laundry list of complaints about the human condition." - Michiko Kakutani, New York Times
So maybe the Times is right about Roth. Maybe this is just one of his worst books. I won't give up on him yet, but I have to admit that my one Philip Roth experience was not a positive one.
I listened to it on audio. If you don't think that counts, I understand. I personally think that if it invalidates my opinion, it isn't by much. I think in this case, my basic reaction would have been the same, whether viewed with the eye or listened with the ear.
I've heard passionate arguments for and against Philip Roth here on goodreads for quite some time now. He's one of only a handful of modern-day American writers with boatloads of awards and a strong literary reputation. This is indisputable. If you go to you'll see that six -- count them, SIX -- of his novels are in The NY Times "Best Work of American Fiction of the Last 25 Years" report.
That's very impressive.
Needless to say, I've been jonesing to get my hands on his work.
And after experiencing this, I'm wondering how he has this glowing reputation. Everyman bored me like no novel has in months. It didn't capture my imagination in the least, and at best, only tickled my intellectual curiosity. It was utterly predictable and lacked heavily in both creativity, and passion.
It's about a man getting old in age, facing the prospect of death, looking back on his life, mostly with regret. His failures include cheating on his wife with both his secretary, and with a model half his age. He is afraid of Al-Qaeda after 9/11, and moves out of the city fearing another attack. Neither his regrets -- which are all familiar ones, such as not spending enough time with family -- nor his thoughts about death, are in the least bit novel or interesting.
I also got a feeling that this novel was self serving, like Roth got-off while writing this, falling in love with his descriptions, trying to sound smart. But phrases like "“vitriolic despondency" don't impress me. In fact, they irritate me. To add to that affect, he overplayed the sex theme in all the tired ways, without any spark or flair.
Roth's attempt here is an admirable one in that he faces the issue of old age and death, head-on. But Everyman seemed so forced and play-by-the-book, it was like a high school student wrote the plot. I realize that that's part of Roth's point. With the protagonist not having a name, just being "everyman", the story isn't supposed to come to life. It's supposed to represent the fact that we are all going to have to face, and struggle with, death -- and that it's not pretty. And the topic of death -- when written of with heart, depth, and an appreciation for some of life's magic -- can be capturing to read about. But the affect this had on me was a state of depression, and a general confusion as to Roth's iconic status.
Wondering what I was missing about Roth, I checked to see if this novel was one of the six on the NY Times list I shared earlier. It is not. In fact, what I found was this: "In the course of Everyman Mr. Roth captures the more depressing aspects of aging....But these harrowing evocations of age and infirmity do not a novel make. This book often reads like a laundry list of complaints about the human condition." - Michiko Kakutani, New York Times
So maybe the Times is right about Roth. Maybe this is just one of his worst books. I won't give up on him yet, but I have to admit that my one Philip Roth experience was not a positive one.
September 21, 2007
I was a little nervous about reading Everyman. I didn't know if I wanted to subject myself to a book I knew was going to be such a downer, nor was I in a hurry to be reminded that I'm going to die one day and that growing old will be a terrifying experience.
But now that I've finished it, I don't think it'll keep me up at night like I had thought it would. This book is less about the horror of facing your inevitable death, and more about the hell you can create for yourself in old age if you lived like a bastard your whole life.
I know Phillip Roth would punch me in the face for saying this, but I think that even though he so vehemently argues against religion in Everyman, the book actually kinda creates a case for, if not religion, then at least living by some kind of moral code. I got the feeling that if his protagonist had just been a better person, the difficulties of old age and impeding death wouldn't have been so terrible. In the end, Everyman, for me, was about how old age is bad but loneliness is worse.
But now that I've finished it, I don't think it'll keep me up at night like I had thought it would. This book is less about the horror of facing your inevitable death, and more about the hell you can create for yourself in old age if you lived like a bastard your whole life.
I know Phillip Roth would punch me in the face for saying this, but I think that even though he so vehemently argues against religion in Everyman, the book actually kinda creates a case for, if not religion, then at least living by some kind of moral code. I got the feeling that if his protagonist had just been a better person, the difficulties of old age and impeding death wouldn't have been so terrible. In the end, Everyman, for me, was about how old age is bad but loneliness is worse.
December 26, 2019
L'amaro bilancio colto dal protagonista dopo un drammatico viaggio tra i ricordi. Una vita di macerie alla quale non è concessa redenzione o espiazione, ma solo il rimorso indotto dalla raggiunta consapevolezza. Un'analisi attenta, stesa con uno stile impeccabile. Un romanzo amaro, ma indimenticabile
August 31, 2012
If I have it my way, I would have included the book in the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. Why? This book teaches, or reminds, us on what really matters in life. This prepares us on what to do when it is time to face the music: of getting old, of facing death. I know that sounds like a cliché, but Roth seemed to have poured his heart out in this book. Roth was 71 when he was writing this and the sequence of his life, e.g., series of sickness and divorces, is said to parallel the life of the unnamed narrator in this book. So, while reading the book, I felt I was reading Roth’s narrating as himself. And boy, he is in pain!
The story opens during the narrator’s burial day. In attendance are his few loved ones. Judging from the number of the people witnessing his coffin being lowered to the ground and listening to the thoughts of the people who he might have loved or might have loved him, one can right away deduce that his was not a well-lived life. He died at 71 yet he agonized finally living this world with his what-if’s, what I could have done better, what went wrong, etc.
I dog-eared some of the pages with some of the thought-provoking lines that I encountered and they are enough to summarize the message of this book without spewing spoilers:
However, this last phrase nicely recaps all the quotes above. During the last years of our life on earth or when we breath our last, this is all that I think matters:
And yet, why wait for the time that we are dying? We are all born to die. So, everyman should always try to live each day as it if is his last.
The story opens during the narrator’s burial day. In attendance are his few loved ones. Judging from the number of the people witnessing his coffin being lowered to the ground and listening to the thoughts of the people who he might have loved or might have loved him, one can right away deduce that his was not a well-lived life. He died at 71 yet he agonized finally living this world with his what-if’s, what I could have done better, what went wrong, etc.
I dog-eared some of the pages with some of the thought-provoking lines that I encountered and they are enough to summarize the message of this book without spewing spoilers:
”There’s no remaking reality,� she told him. “Just take it as it comes. Hold your ground and take it as it comes.� p.5This line is uttered by the narrator’s daughter Nancyby his second marriage. She is the only two � the other being his older brother Howie who seems to have loved the narrator, her father, sincerely. I loved Nancy because I hope or I know to some extent that my own daughter would be like her when I become really old and gray.
”You wicked bastards! You sulky fuckers! You condemning little shits! Would everything be different, he asked himself, if I’d been different and done things differently? Would it all be less lonely than it is now? Of course it would! But this is what I did! I am seventy-one. This is the man I have made. This is what I did to get here, and there’s nothing more to be said!�pp. 97-98While Nancy is sprinkling the dirt (soil) unto her father's coffin, Roth presents the back story of the narrator, told in the narrator’s (corpse) point-of-view. So, the narrator speaks to the reader in monologue akin to Hamlet spewing his innermost thoughts mostly in anger, pain, regret and utter loneliness. There are many lines like this and so the narration could really be depressing. Don’t read this book if you want a happy read!
”Old age is a battle, dear, if not with this (drug), then with that (weariness). It’s an unrelenting battle and just that when you’re at your weakest and least to call up your old fight.�pp. 143-144The words in parenthesis are my interpretation based on the previous statements in this hospital scene when the narrator’s health condition is turning from worse to worst. This metaphor of battle for old age is introduced in the portion but will be reversed by Roth later in the next quote like a two-step ascending crescendo in a dark funereal orchestra.
”Old age isn’t a battle; old age is a massacre.�p. 156Probably the most quoted part of this book’s narrative. It is a reality that old age leads us to death. Prior to that, it makes us ugly: wrinkles, expanding waistline, stooping posture, white hairs, shrinking, fluffier face, swollen joints, pigmented and dull skin, etc. However, for me, focusing on these is forgetting that: Old age is a bliss too. If you played your cards well when you are young and strong, chances are you are financially-secured when you become old and frail: no more children’s education to support, debt-free so you can sleep all you want, you can get up in the morning really late, you can read all the books you want, you can see all the movies you fancy seeing and you can do nasty things to young people and they would ignore or forgive you quite easily compared when you were younger and so people were less forgiving.
However, this last phrase nicely recaps all the quotes above. During the last years of our life on earth or when we breath our last, this is all that I think matters:
”Look back and atone for what you can atone for, and make the best of what you have left.�p. 171Even if we do our best, as human beings, we cannot avoid hurting people. So, we say sorry. So we learn from our mistakes. Yet, we always stumble. We always fall. But we raise up again and again. As life goes on and on.
And yet, why wait for the time that we are dying? We are all born to die. So, everyman should always try to live each day as it if is his last.
August 5, 2018
يا إلهي ! في الفترة القصيرة الماضية صادفت الكثير من هذه الروايات التي تتحدث عن حياة رجل، لنقل إنسان عادي ممن تزخر بهم الحياة، حياتهم ليست صاخبة ليس فيها مفاجأت ولا أبطال ، حياة خاملة بسيطة ، هنا كانت متهتكة، حياة هنا غير قابلة للإصلاح ، حياة جبانة ..
رجل مات وتم إعلان جنازته ، يعود به الكاتب من جديد ليسرد حكايته المملة الكئيبة ، يسترجع حياته من خلال مواقف وأحداث غير سعيدة تماماً كما لو أن الرجل مخلوق من الكآبة، مالذي مر في حياة الرجل سوى المرض والقلق والخوف المزمن من الموت ، رجل يحمل كمية غير عادية من الأنانية، حسود، يهرب دائماً من مسؤولياته " الأب الفاشل، الأخ الحسود، الزوج المزدوج، الإبن الضعيف " ، هكذا تمتع الرجل بسيرة غير جيدة على الإطلاق لا مع الناس ولا في حياته الخاصة ، مغامر جنسي " كذلك كان مزيفاً في كل شيء ، عدا أنه جائع للجنس تماماً " ، طلق ثلاث مرات، لم تتحمله إمرأة أو بالأحرى هو من كان لا يستطيع العيش مع أحد لفترة طويلة .. إستهوته الأشياء التافهة في الحياة، خاض الحياة كتجربة لا كغاية، عاش في معظم حياته وحيداً لأنه لم يتعلم أن يخلص لأحد، لم يتعلم أن يكون ذا شأن ، كان دائماً على حافة شيء ما ..
الجو العام في الرواية كئيب نوعاً ما، فيها الطابع الوجودي المميز مع شيء من بساطة السرد وعدم الخوض في الطابع العميق في معالجة الأشياء لا يذهب بك بعيداً في تفسير الأشياء وإلقاء اللوم على أحد، إنه كاتب من النوع لا يرهق نفسه بالتنقيب داخل الشخصية، يترك المجال للقاريء ببساطة هكذا ، فيليب روث كاتب بسيط غير متكلف ينقل القارئ بين الأزمنة بخفة ، لكن مع ذلك تشعر بالإرهاق أثناء القراءة وكأن حياة الرجل العجوز قد ألقيت على كاهلك ..
هذه الرواية، على فكرة ، لا تناسب الأشخاص الذين يبحثون عن قصة ممتعة داخل الرواية ، هنا لا يوجد شيء سوى صراع إنسان مع الموت وفكرة الموت ..
رجل مات وتم إعلان جنازته ، يعود به الكاتب من جديد ليسرد حكايته المملة الكئيبة ، يسترجع حياته من خلال مواقف وأحداث غير سعيدة تماماً كما لو أن الرجل مخلوق من الكآبة، مالذي مر في حياة الرجل سوى المرض والقلق والخوف المزمن من الموت ، رجل يحمل كمية غير عادية من الأنانية، حسود، يهرب دائماً من مسؤولياته " الأب الفاشل، الأخ الحسود، الزوج المزدوج، الإبن الضعيف " ، هكذا تمتع الرجل بسيرة غير جيدة على الإطلاق لا مع الناس ولا في حياته الخاصة ، مغامر جنسي " كذلك كان مزيفاً في كل شيء ، عدا أنه جائع للجنس تماماً " ، طلق ثلاث مرات، لم تتحمله إمرأة أو بالأحرى هو من كان لا يستطيع العيش مع أحد لفترة طويلة .. إستهوته الأشياء التافهة في الحياة، خاض الحياة كتجربة لا كغاية، عاش في معظم حياته وحيداً لأنه لم يتعلم أن يخلص لأحد، لم يتعلم أن يكون ذا شأن ، كان دائماً على حافة شيء ما ..
الجو العام في الرواية كئيب نوعاً ما، فيها الطابع الوجودي المميز مع شيء من بساطة السرد وعدم الخوض في الطابع العميق في معالجة الأشياء لا يذهب بك بعيداً في تفسير الأشياء وإلقاء اللوم على أحد، إنه كاتب من النوع لا يرهق نفسه بالتنقيب داخل الشخصية، يترك المجال للقاريء ببساطة هكذا ، فيليب روث كاتب بسيط غير متكلف ينقل القارئ بين الأزمنة بخفة ، لكن مع ذلك تشعر بالإرهاق أثناء القراءة وكأن حياة الرجل العجوز قد ألقيت على كاهلك ..
هذه الرواية، على فكرة ، لا تناسب الأشخاص الذين يبحثون عن قصة ممتعة داخل الرواية ، هنا لا يوجد شيء سوى صراع إنسان مع الموت وفكرة الموت ..
March 24, 2022
«Τα γηρατειά δεν είναι μάχη , τα γηρατειά είναι σφαγή» Στο τελευταίο του και ένα από τα πιο ώριμα μυθιστορήματα ο πάντα αγαπημένος και αξεπέραστος για μένα Φίλιπ Ροθ πραγματεύεται τα γηρατειά , το φόβο του θανάτου , τις τύψεις , τη στωικότητα , το αναπόφευκτο τέλος.
November 26, 2022
یکی مثل همه، شاید در ظاهر رمانی معمولی و ساده باشد، اما در باطن روایت یک زندگی� و تقابل اشک‌ه� و لبخندهاست...
داستان یک عمر زندگی� از زبان مردی بی‌نا� است(شاید نویسنده عمدا نامی برایش نگذاشته که همانند عنوان کتاب به ما بگوید که این داستان فقط داستان زندگی او نیست، بلکه می‌توان� زندگی هر مردی باشد.) که در سن هفتاد و یک سالگی مرده و ضمن روایت زندگی خود از کودکی تا مرگ، ما را با چالش‌ها� زندگی‌اش� اعم از عواطف، احساسات، سلامت و روابط با اطرافیانش آشنا می‌کن�.
مردی که در عین رویدادها و اتفاقاتی که در زندگی تجربه کرده، پس از سه ازدواج و طلاق، پس از رابطه با زن‌ها� مختلف باز هم علاقه‌ا� به مرگ ندارد و ضمن اضطرابش از مرگ، هرچه به پایان راه نزدیک‌ت� می‌شو� اشتهایش نیز برای زندگی بیشتر می‌شو�.
فیلیپ راث را نمی‌شناختم� در حین مطالعه� «خیره به خورشید» مخلوق یالوم بودم که من را به نمایشنامه� «اوری من» لینک کرد، که این نمایشنامه را نیافتم اما در نتیجه� جستجو به این کتاب رسیدم که مرتبط است با موضوع آن نمایشنامه و عنوانش نیز همان است اما به دلیل نبود معادل فارسی مترجم این عنوان را برایش برگزیده است.
نقل‌قو� نامه
"واقعیت را نمی‌شو� از نو ساخت. همان‌طو� که هست قبولش کن. سر جایت محکم بایست و با آن روبرو شو."
"وقتی جوان هستی این جلوه� بیرونی بدن است که اهمیت دارد، اینک� از بیرون چه‌طو� به نظر می‌آی�. وقتی پا به سن می‌گذار� آن‌چ� درون است اهمیت پیدا می‌کن� و دیگر برای کسی مهم نیست چه شکلی هستی."
"بدترین جنبه تنهایی این است که مجبوری تحملش کنی... یا تحمل می‌کن� یا غرق می‌شو�. باید سخت تلاش کنی تا ذهن گرسنه‌ا� را از نگاه به گذشته باز داری تا نابود نشوی."
کارنام
تنها یک ستاره از کتاب کسر می‌کن� که در حق خواص هم محتوایی که به آن‌ه� پنج ستاره داده‌ا� اجحاف نشود، وگرنه داستان بسیار خواندنی، شیوا و روان است.
پنجم آذرماه یک‌هزا� و چهارصد و یک
داستان یک عمر زندگی� از زبان مردی بی‌نا� است(شاید نویسنده عمدا نامی برایش نگذاشته که همانند عنوان کتاب به ما بگوید که این داستان فقط داستان زندگی او نیست، بلکه می‌توان� زندگی هر مردی باشد.) که در سن هفتاد و یک سالگی مرده و ضمن روایت زندگی خود از کودکی تا مرگ، ما را با چالش‌ها� زندگی‌اش� اعم از عواطف، احساسات، سلامت و روابط با اطرافیانش آشنا می‌کن�.
مردی که در عین رویدادها و اتفاقاتی که در زندگی تجربه کرده، پس از سه ازدواج و طلاق، پس از رابطه با زن‌ها� مختلف باز هم علاقه‌ا� به مرگ ندارد و ضمن اضطرابش از مرگ، هرچه به پایان راه نزدیک‌ت� می‌شو� اشتهایش نیز برای زندگی بیشتر می‌شو�.
فیلیپ راث را نمی‌شناختم� در حین مطالعه� «خیره به خورشید» مخلوق یالوم بودم که من را به نمایشنامه� «اوری من» لینک کرد، که این نمایشنامه را نیافتم اما در نتیجه� جستجو به این کتاب رسیدم که مرتبط است با موضوع آن نمایشنامه و عنوانش نیز همان است اما به دلیل نبود معادل فارسی مترجم این عنوان را برایش برگزیده است.
نقل‌قو� نامه
"واقعیت را نمی‌شو� از نو ساخت. همان‌طو� که هست قبولش کن. سر جایت محکم بایست و با آن روبرو شو."
"وقتی جوان هستی این جلوه� بیرونی بدن است که اهمیت دارد، اینک� از بیرون چه‌طو� به نظر می‌آی�. وقتی پا به سن می‌گذار� آن‌چ� درون است اهمیت پیدا می‌کن� و دیگر برای کسی مهم نیست چه شکلی هستی."
"بدترین جنبه تنهایی این است که مجبوری تحملش کنی... یا تحمل می‌کن� یا غرق می‌شو�. باید سخت تلاش کنی تا ذهن گرسنه‌ا� را از نگاه به گذشته باز داری تا نابود نشوی."
کارنام
تنها یک ستاره از کتاب کسر می‌کن� که در حق خواص هم محتوایی که به آن‌ه� پنج ستاره داده‌ا� اجحاف نشود، وگرنه داستان بسیار خواندنی، شیوا و روان است.
پنجم آذرماه یک‌هزا� و چهارصد و یک
August 23, 2018
"Old age isn't a battle; old age is a massacre.�
No soy un lector frecuente de Roth, pero lo que he leído de él hasta ahora me muestra un autor con una prosa extraordinaria y un manejo de la profundidad humana impecable. En este caso, me encontré con un Roth que recuerda a Don DeLillo. Porque Everyman trata sobre la desesperación, de la decadencia, la soledad y la irresponsabilidad, pero principalmente sobre la muerte. El protagonista de esta historia es un hombre grande que a medida que va ganando años, su consciencia de la muerte se acrecienta, así como sus visitas al hospital. Esto puede llegar a volverse repetitivo por momentos, pero esa repetición, creo yo, es la gracia del libro: su mente resiste pero el cuerpo se quiebra. Fantástico trabajo de este autor al que debo leer más. Uno de los mejores libros sobre la decadencia y el dolor que he leído. Muy recomendado.
No soy un lector frecuente de Roth, pero lo que he leído de él hasta ahora me muestra un autor con una prosa extraordinaria y un manejo de la profundidad humana impecable. En este caso, me encontré con un Roth que recuerda a Don DeLillo. Porque Everyman trata sobre la desesperación, de la decadencia, la soledad y la irresponsabilidad, pero principalmente sobre la muerte. El protagonista de esta historia es un hombre grande que a medida que va ganando años, su consciencia de la muerte se acrecienta, así como sus visitas al hospital. Esto puede llegar a volverse repetitivo por momentos, pero esa repetición, creo yo, es la gracia del libro: su mente resiste pero el cuerpo se quiebra. Fantástico trabajo de este autor al que debo leer más. Uno de los mejores libros sobre la decadencia y el dolor que he leído. Muy recomendado.
January 5, 2016
It has now been about three years since Philip Roth, then 79, famously announced his retirement from fiction writing. In a look back over Roth’s career—spanning half a century and 30 books�Everyman (2006) might fade into the background, especially given the book’s novella length. But to overlook it would be a mistake: This is a near-perfect fable about the life we build through decades of small choices and the death that is always lying in wait, whether we feel ready or not.
My full review is now available on the . Have a look around at the great work they do in highlighting the American Jewish Experience.
My full review is now available on the . Have a look around at the great work they do in highlighting the American Jewish Experience.
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