Philip Roth Defender of the Faith Essay Example

Defender of the Faith was released in 1959 in a collection of stories titled Goodbye, Columbus. Defender of the Faith is considered to be the best part of the collection because it explores the conflict between personal feelings and religious loyalty, rather than exploiting, as Roth had done previously. The Defender of the Faith explores Sergeant Nathan Marx’s confrontations and dealings with a new trainee, Sheldon Grossbart, who believes his Jewish connection with Marx will enable him to special privileges and treatment during his time in training. Philip Milton Roth was born March 19, 1933 in Newark, New Jersey. Roth attended Bucknell University, earning a degree in English. After Bucknell, Roth pursued graduate studies at the University of Chicago, where he received an M.A. in English literature and worked briefly as an instructor in the university’s writing program (Encyclopedia Britannica). Roth continued teaching writing at the University of Iowa and Princeton University, and the University of Pennsylvania, before retiring from teaching in 1992 (Encyclopedia Britannica). While in Chicago, Roth met his first wife, Margaret Martinson. Their separation in 1963, along with Martinson’s death in a car accident in 1968, left a lasting mark on Roth’s literary output (Encyclopedia Britannica). Between the end of his studies and the publication of his first book in 1959, Roth served two years in the United States Army. His first book was Goodbye, Columbus, a novella and five stories that use wit, irony, and humor to depict Jewish life in post-war America (The
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Philip Roth Society). The book won him critical recognition, including the National Book Award of fiction, and also brought condemnation from some within the Jewish community for depicting what they felt was an unflattering side of the cotemporary Jewish American Experience (The Philip Roth Society). Events in Roth’s personal life have occasionally been the subject of media scrutiny. According to