Philip Roth

"It's absolutely fantastic. When I was a kid, my father was always trying to tell me how to be a man, and he said to me, I was maybe 9, and he said to me, 'Philip, whenever you take a nap, take your clothes off, put a blanket on you, and you're going to sleep better.' Well, as with everything, he was right. ... Then the best part of it is that when you wake up, for the first 15 seconds, you have no idea where you are. You're just alive. That's all you know. And it's bliss, it's absolute bliss."

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Source: At 80, Philip Roth Reflects On Life, Literature And The Beauty Of Naps. Weekend Edition Saturday with Scott Simon, www.npr.org. March 23, 2013.

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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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