Philip Roth

"All I can tell you with certainty is that I, for one, have no self, and that I am unwilling or unable to perpetrate upon myself the joke of a self. What I have instead is a variety of impersonations I can do, and not only of myself - a troupe of players that I have internalised, a permanent company of actors that I can call upon when a self is required. I am a theater and nothing more than a theater."

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Source: The Counterlife. Book by Philip Roth, 1986.

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Philip Roth

Philip Roth

Novelist

Philip Roth was a prominent American novelist known for his incisive exploration of identity and conflict, particularly in works like 'Portnoy's Complaint.'

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Philip Roth Novelist

"Only in America, Rabbi Golden, do these peasants, our mothers, get their hair dyed platinum at the age of sixty, and walk up and down Collins Avenue in Florida in pedalpushers and mink stoles - and with opinions on every subject under the sun. It isn't their fault they were given a gift like speech - look, if cows could talk, they would say things just as idiotic."

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Philip Roth Novelist

"I cannot and do not live in the world of discretion, not as a writer, anyway. I would prefer to, I assure you - it would make life easier. But discretion is, unfortunately, not for novelists."

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