Young Man Luther , Young Man Roth: Patrimony, Psychoanalysis, and Life Writing

Abstract

Abstract: " Young Man Luther , Young Man Roth" proposes that the best way to access the life of an author is to analyze what they have read. Juxtaposing passages that Philip Roth underlined in his personal copy of Erik Erikson's 1958 psychobiography of Martin Luther, this article argues that Roth's writing about fathers and sons draws more on his library than on his personal experiences. When read in the context of Roth's 1984 Paris Review interview with Hermione Lee that features in the background under-acknowledged titles from his personal library, such important works as Zuckerman Unbound (1981), Patrimony (1991), and Indignation (2008) reveal Roth not at his most personal or biographical but rather as seeking insight into the ways relationships between fathers and sons shape history. Abstract: " Young Man Luther , Young Man Roth" proposes that the best way to access the life of an author is to analyze what they have read. Juxtaposing passages that Philip Roth underlined in his personal copy of Erik Erikson's 1958 psychobiography of Martin Luther, this article argues that Roth's writing about fathers and sons draws more on his library than on his personal experiences. When read in the context of Roth's 1984 Paris Review interview with Hermione Lee that features in the background under-acknowledged titles from his personal library, such important works as Zuckerman Unbound (1985), Patrimony (1991), and Indignation (2008) reveal Roth not at his most personal or biographical but rather as seeking insight into the ways relationships between fathers and sons shape history.