Biodun.BBC: BREAKING: Philip Roth: Portnoy's Complaint author dies aged 85

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Philip Roth, posing in New York in 2010 — Image captionPhilip Roth wrote more than 30 books

One of the great American authors, Philip Roth, has died aged 85.

The Pulitzer, National Book Award and Man Booker International Prize-winning novelist's work drew its inspiration from Jewish family life, sex and American ideals.

His works included American Pastoral, I Married a Communist and Portnoy's Complaint.

The New York Times reported that a close friend of Roth's said he had died of congestive heart failure.

Roth first found success with his short story collection, Goodbye Columbus, published in 1959.

A decade later his sexually explicit novel Portnoy's Complaint catapulted him to notoriety, making him a celebrity in the US.

Obituary: Philip Roth, the author who scandalised middle America

In later life he wrote a number of highly regarded historical novels, including his 1997 work American Pastoral, for which he won his Pulitzer.

He wrote prolifically over the course of his career, publishing more than 30 books before ending his fiction career in 2009.

When Roth won the 2011 Man Booker International, chair of the judges Rick Gekoski said: "His career is remarkable in that he starts at such a high level, and keeps getting better. In his 50s and 60s, when most novelists are in decline, he wrote a string of novels of the highest, enduring quality."

He also recognised that his win divided the panel, and had caused one judge to quit in protest. "I can recall few of his novels that don't provoke an occasional but overwhelming desire to shout 'will you shut up!' at a character or his author," he said.

In 2014, Roth told the BBC he would make no more public appearances: "I can guarantee you that this is my last appearance ever on television... absolutely [my] last appearance on any stage anywhere."

Tributes flowed in on Twitter, with his biographer Blake Bailey calling him "a darling man" and New York Times Book Review editor Pamela Paul describing him as "one of our greats".

Screenwriter David Simon - creator of The Wire - said Roth was "the great American novelist of our postwar world". He is reportedly working on television adaptation of The Plot Against America, a Roth novel that imagined right-wing aviator Charles Lindbergh becoming president instead of Franklin D. Roosevelt.