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S'està carregant… La humiliació (2009)de Philip Roth
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Apunta't a LibraryThing per saber si aquest llibre et pot agradar. No hi ha cap discussió a Converses sobre aquesta obra. Review originally posted at Dangerously Cold Tea Like many readers, I feel like I've been severely let down by Philip Roth's latest novel, The Humbling. The premise is remarkably simple: sixty-something actor goes through a slump, needs help, meets woman and falls in love. Well, there's more to it, of course, like a stay as a psychiatric hospital and the fact that the woman he falls in love with is a lesbian. Ex-lesbian? Recovering lesbian? Bicurious lesbian? The novel never really says. But there are so many ways in this novel in which Roth uses his narrative to paint lesbians as a manly, butch section of women who don't care about looking pretty or wearing expensive clothing. Simon Axler, the protag of The Humbling, takes it upon himself to go all out for Pegeen, his lesbian lover. He buys her new clothes ("flattering new coats", "luxurious lingerie to replace the sports bras and the gray briefs"), necklaces and earrings, even a new haircut at an expensive salon - all to make her into, in Axler's words, "a woman he would want instead of a woman another woman would want". Because, of course, lesbians all wear flannel and have short hair cuts and never look feminine at all. Don't forget that Pegeen's ex-girlfriends include a psycho stalker dean and someone who turns into a man and may have turned Pegeen straight. Roth has never been a great writer of women characters, but this is the first time I've been offended by his portrayal of a whole section of women due to their chosen sexuality. But for all of its dubious fail on sexuality, The Humbling is not without its good bits. For instance, the description of Pegeen losing her lesbian lover to the enthralling pull of the Internet must certainly ring true with many readers who have lost loved ones to the very real problem of Internet addiction. And then there is the first part of the book, before Axler meets Pegeen, in which Axler's descent into depression and severe performance anxiety is laid out for all to see, including his stay at the psychiatric hospital and his interactions with the the patients within. But they do not redeem the dreck that comes afterwards, nor its cop-out of an ending. As someone who deeply enjoyed his previous novel, Indignation, this new book is severely disappointing and casts a heavy shadow on Roth's works so far. Let us hope that his next book, Nemesis (which is due for release later this year) is of higher quality and hopefully less damaging to his body of work's reputation. > LE RABAISSEMENT, de Philip Roth (Trad. de l’américain par Marie-Claire Pasquier Gallimard, Paris, 2011, 122 p.) Se reporter à la critique de Michel NAREAU In: (2012). Compte rendu de [Fiction]. Nuit blanche, (127), p. 22. … ; (en ligne), URL : https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/66992ac "He'd lost his magic. The impulse was spent." A short, depressing although definitely engaging little story or a once highly regarded stage actor who after a number of disasterous performances convinces himself both his career and life are over. Simon Axler takes preventative measures and seeks treatment. A new relationship offers him purpose even though he recognises it's likely demise could undermine his renewed desire to live. Für Simon Axler geht es bergab. Mit sechzig hat er, einer der besten Theaterschauspieler, alles Selbstvertrauen verloren. Als er auch noch von seiner Frau verlassen wird, kehrt er der Bühne endgültig den Rücken zu und beginnt eine scheinbar unmögliche Beziehung mit der lesbischen Tochter eines Jugendfreundes. Doch was zunächst wie ein belebender Trost aussieht, erweist sich als Flucht vor der Wirklichkeit. Philip Roth erzählt in seinem Roman mit unverwechselbarer Eindringlichkeit und Ironie vom Schicksal eines alternden Schauspielers. Auf Simons Reise ans Ende der Nacht entblößt der in den USA lebende Autor gnadenlos alle menschlichen Täuschungen - Liebe und Macht, Leidenschaft und Prestige.
No amount of past achievement should blind one to a writer's present failings and it has to be said that Roth's new novel is, by his standards, dismayingly poor. Roth has always had a tendency to veer off into realms of extravagant silliness; the most egregious example of this was his 1972 novella The Breast, which reworked Kafka's Metamorphosis so that the hero wakes up not as an insect but as a giant mammary gland. The Humbling belongs in the same dubious company. Mr. Roth recounts these events in an offhand manner, as though he were simply going through the motions of ticking off plot points on a spindly, ill-conceived outline. The women in Simon’s life are all female caricatures, devoid of any nuance or inner life, and Simon himself — much like the nameless hero of “Everyman” — turns out to be a generic old guy: a sort of faceless avatar set up as a punching bag for all the indignities an aging man might suffer. Pertany a aquestes col·leccions editorialsGallimard, Folio (5735) PremisDistincions
What happens when all the ways that we convince ourselves of our solidity, all our life's performances--talent, love, sex, hope, energy, reputation--are stripped off? Simon Axler, one of the leading American stage actors of his generation, is about to find out. Now in his sixties, he has lost his magic, his talent, and his assurance. His wife has gone, his audience has left him, his agent can't persuade him to make a comeback. Consumed by an erotic desire, he plunges into a darker and more shocking end. No s'han trobat descripcions de biblioteca. |
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Google Books — S'està carregant… GèneresClassificació Decimal de Dewey (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LCC (Clas. Bibl. Congrés EUA)ValoracióMitjana:
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