JOLLY DAYS

Philip Roth

In this interview at YouTube Philip Roth expresses the malaise of disappointed old age. As is the current fashion, his feelings are deflected from the personal and then politicized. Roth says, “[Bush]…utterly destroyed whatever moral authority the United States had”, suggesting that it might also be the company Roth keeps that is clouding his mind, resulting in mind-numbing slogans rather than nuanced ideas. Roth appears to have collapsed internally and projects that despair on everyone else. Roth is a fine writer, with a substantial body of work, who instead of achieving wisdom has devolved into ponderousness.