Must Read! -- Elizabeth Gilbert Takes On Philip Roth

2/6/2013

It's a two-fer today. If you get a moment, you should check out Elizabeth Gilbert's response to a recent story about Philip Roth and some advice he gave to an aspiring writer.

It so perfectly encapsulates what I believe about writing and the frequent lament that writing is a "difficult" profession that I don't want to say even another word about it. Just go check it out!

5 Comments

Susan Sauter

2/12/2013 05:13:26 am

At the risk of offending everyone, I've got to comment. I agree with Elizabeth Gilbert but can't we give Phillip Roth a break? To take him to task for a possible relaxed-mode comment at his usual venue to a waiter/aspiring&just-published writer is tacky and rude. I'm going to assume that the venerable Roth has experienced self-loathing and industry manipulation that perhaps torture him. Yes, it's an enviable position. But can't Gilbert make her argument/provide encouragement from some other point of departure?

Kap link

2/12/2013 06:20:30 am

Hi, Susan:

A fair point, I think. Though my guess is that a lot of the backlash against Roth's comments stems from more than just the comments themselves. Roth is a touted writer and an important figure in Jewish Literature, but remember, this is also the guy who said that he is done with reading other people's fiction because it isn't worth his time. Over the years, he's been accused of being an elitist, a narcissist, a sexist/chauvinist, to name a few of the more common barbs thrown his way, and he hasn't always done much to distance himself from those allegations. So, I think a lot of that probably factors into the responses he's getting now.

I didn't (aside from the provocative headline--which was probably written by someone else), think that the article really took Roth to task, as advertised. It seemed like Gilbert's point had little to do with Roth, other than using the much-publicized story of Roth's advice as a means for talking about a larger issue of the writing community.

When I was in grad school in Ohio, I had a friend who wasn't a writer but a lit.scholar say (one day after hearing colleagues complain one too many time about just how hard it was to be in grad school and how they could just as easily make more money/have less headaches working in a cubicle somewhere) that people ought to try holding a job in the "real world" first before they talk about things they don't understand. I think Gilbert's article expresses a similar feeling.

Susan Sauter

2/12/2013 10:50:56 am

I haven't followed Roth closely, or at all, so thanks for the background. I know I have read him and found him to be exactly as you describe. I won't go into how I feel Gilbert's writing "compares" except to say I could not even get through half of her celebrated Eat Pray Love. And, to be fair, her writing quality isn't the issue here. And thankfully, she's making a living, one not out of a cubicle.

Kap link

2/12/2013 04:23:39 pm

I've never read Eat, Pray, Love. Jennifer Egan liked it, so that's a pretty good endorsement. Still, I suspect that I am not a part of Gilbert's target demographic. :)

Kap link

2/12/2013 06:21:44 am

It's also worth noting that the young writer who Roth gave the advice to has penned a column apologizing for the bad press. It's worth the read:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/02/06/julian-tepper-leave-philip-roth-alone.html

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