What are the literary techniques in philip roth's novels?

He changed from a realistic writer to a modernist writer and then to a post-modernist writer, and tried various avant-garde writing skills, providing readers with a broad reading space. He has published 28 novels, almost all of which have a brand-new look. The novelty and uniqueness of artistic form dazzles readers and vividly expresses the profound theme of the novel. This is the main reason why Ross has a large number of readers and guides the public's imagination. This is the greatest feature of his novel creation, and it is also an unusual and noteworthy cultural phenomenon in contemporary American literary world. Among contemporary American writers, philip roth is undoubtedly the most striking one. This is not only because of his large number of creations-from his debut novel Goodbye Columbus and Five Short Stories published by 1959 to his new work P lot A ga inst Am erica published in 2004. In his creative career of more than 40 years, Zong * * has published 28 works and won a large number of readers. It often involves the most sensitive and acute problems in contemporary American society, especially among Jewish immigrants, such as identity alienation, betrayal and return, the gap between two generations of immigrants, and the variation of morality and values. His independent thinking and bold exposure of these issues made him a controversial figure, and the explicit sexual description in his works made him criticized as a "porn writer". There are many people who admire or scoff at his novels, but it is an indisputable fact that Ross's popularity is increasing day by day, and each of his works has attracted much attention and heated discussion. Both literary critics and ordinary readers are full of expectations and enthusiasm for his creation. This phenomenon of "appealing to both refined and popular tastes" is rare in contemporary literature. When commenting on Ross's success, some literary critics will notice that his works are constantly changing and innovating. His novels are extensive and subversive. From the beginning, they deconstructed some traditional themes of American Jewish literature and reversed the positive images of kindness, integrity and suffering created by the first generation of Jewish writers such as Malamud and Singer. In Ross's works, American Jews with different faces and unique personalities stand out. More importantly, they have interpreted multiple and complicated life dramas through the activities of these characters in the specific contemporary American social environment. Ross's works are constantly tracking the changes of reality, and his vision is not only a hot spot from time to time, but also a forward-looking prediction and reflection on history. It is accurate to regard Ross as a writer who keeps pace with the times, and we can feel the pulse of the times from his novels. The changes in the content of his works fully echo the development of society. It can be said that philip roth's rich and varied creations provide us with a cultural "information base" for decoding and amplifying research. However, another evolution in Ross's creation is often overlooked. In my opinion, the attraction of Ross's works lies not only in the complex realistic relationship, the profound exploration of human nature and the wise feeling of the author, but also in the constant updating of his creative techniques. In this respect, he has almost become a magician, and is an active participant and promoter of the new literary trend of thought that has arisen in American literary circles for nearly half a century. Ross's attempts and explorations in artistic techniques have made him a "king kong" in literature, which is extremely eye-catching. He changed from a realistic writer to a modernist writer, and then entered the ranks of post-modern writers. His innovation in literary writing skills can be called a hipster in art. After decades of unremitting efforts and attempts, he has created a multi-level, multi-color and multi-style novel structure, which greatly opened readers' horizons and hearts. This is also the reason why his novels have won numerous awards, including 26 awards such as American National Book Award, Pulitzer Prize, Faulkner Novel Award, French Foreign Book Award and Czech Franz Kafka Award. He has also become one of the hottest candidates in Nobel Prize in Literature in recent years. First, from the change of artistic techniques, Ross's creation can be roughly divided into three stages. The first stage is from 1959 to 1969. 10' s major works include Goodbye, Columbus, Letting Go (1962), When She's Ready (1967) and Portnoy's Complaint (1). The second stage is the whole 1980' s, and the representative works in this 10' s are our group (Ou R Gang, 197 1), B reast (Brest, 1972) and my life as a m. 1974) and 1977. During this period, Ross's creation mainly imitated the modernist style; In the last stage, with the writer of ghost talent (1979) as the turning point, he went to the post-modernism experimental writing stage, with more diverse styles, even breaking the routine and mixing various schools. As Professor Maurice dickstein of new york University pointed out, "Ross is trying to recreate himself every 65,438+00 years". [1] (P307) He did it, and it was quite successful. Ross entered the literary world with realism. When many people talk about Ross's early works, they will quote Irving Howe's words "The starting point is high". At the age of 26, his first collection of novels, Goodbye Columbus, became a hit. One of them, The Jewish Conversion, was rated as the best American short story from 65438 to 0959, and he was also known as a "child prodigy writer". This collection of novels has won many awards including 1960 National Book Award. Famous writers and literary critics such as Saul Bellow, Irving Howe and Alfred Kajdo spoke highly of them. Despite different opinions and even fierce attacks from some Jewish groups, philip roth left his mark on American literature. Farewell to Columbus describes the real life of contemporary Jews in American society in a realistic way. Its linear and orderly narrative style, cold and objective perspective, precise and delicate environment and characterization show the influence of Balzac, Tolstoy, Howells, especially Henry James and others on the author. The latter is Ross's most admired mentor in his youth. He carefully read every classic of James and drew nutrition from it. It can be said that Ross no longer follows the allegorical creation path of Malamud and Singh, nor does he imitate Bellow's independent speculative style, because he is more willing to accept the realistic paradigm like Henry James. This kind of realism goes a step further than the traditional realism in the past. In addition to objectively reflecting the true face of things, it emphasizes the grasp and description of the characters' psychology, so it is often called psychological realism. In addition to young Ross, Updike, Joyce Carol Oates and others have all won this mantle in American literature. I think Irving Howe saw this. He called Ross's works "starting from a very high point". Goodbye Columbus describes the brief "new" love between Neil Krugman, a Jewish youth, and Brenda, a Jewish female college student. In the novel, Ross satirizes the materialism of Jews who have entered the middle class, such as Brenda's parents. The context of the whole novel is clear. Although there is another sub-line besides the main line, that is, Neil's care and sympathy for black children, this clue is not an unnecessary burden, but an integral part of shaping Neil's image. The description of a large number of inner monologues in the novel is helpful for readers to understand the psychology of the characters. It is worth noting that Ross tried to describe sex in this first novel, which was of course influenced by the cultural environment at that time. The works of D.H. Lawrence, henry miller and Nabokov came out one after another, and Eros and Civilization by Herbert Marcus (1955) and Opposition by Norman Brown (1959). Philip Roth is keenly aware of the impact and influence of this wave on the new generation of Jews, and the inner fear and inferiority of Jewish immigrants in the past are disintegrating day by day. "The resurrection of conscience" can be regarded as a powerful weapon for a new generation of Jews to resist the bondage of religion and tradition. Ross used the fashionable "Mary Torres McCarthy's frankness" [1] (P294) to describe the details of Neil's affair with Brenda. This kind of naked sexual description is of course the need of theme expression, but it has aroused the anger of those "orthodox" Jews, and the voice of cursing swarmed in, but Ross didn't seem to care. He never stopped talking, and "sex" became the consistent feature of his creation. Like Goodbye Columbus, the other five short stories in this collection are written in a realistic style. The characters in the story are both Jews and Americans. Their racial roots and the influence of American mainstream culture make them have two sides, which is far from the image written by the first generation of Jewish writers. Ross's keen observation and realistic techniques vividly depict these characters who are in the midst of social upheaval, are difficult to grasp themselves, and have some human weakness or mental confusion.