The Human Stain

"Αυτά παθαίνεις άμα μεγαλώνεις με ανθρώπους. Το ανθρώπινο στίγμαέτσι είναι. Αφήνουμε ένα στίγμα, το αποτύπωμά μας. Ακαθαρσία,σκληρότητα, κακοποίηση, σφάλμα, περιττώματα, σπέρμα- δεν έχουμε άλλον τρόπο να δηλώσουμε την παρουσία μας. Και αυτό το στίγμα δεν έχει σχέση με ανυπακ [...]

”All he’d ever wanted, from earliest childhood on, as to be free: not black, not even white--just on his own and free. He meant no insult to no one by his choice, nor was he trying to irritate anyone whom he took to be his superior, nor was he staging some sort of protest against his race or hers. He recognized that to conventional people for whom everything was ready-made and rigidly unalterable what he was doing would never look correct. But to dare to be nothing more than correct had neve [...]

See, I was an enormous fan of the Tony Hopkins/ Nicky Kidman film already. But incredibly, that adapatation was just the tip of an iceburg so rich, complex & incredible that is Philip Roth's masterpiece "The Human Stain." The film fails oh-so miserably to fulfill at least 40% of the emotional clout (which is significant and HEAVVVY) famously attributed to this, a gargantuan beauty of a book.It seems that this late in the year, the magic wand waved by Literature is (constantly and repeatedly) [...]

للحق , الأدب الأمريكي هو أقل الآداب إثارة للاهتمام بالنسبة لي , فلا يغامرني تجاهه ذلك الفضول القاتل الذي يجبرني على البحث في أعماقه , وباستثناء إدجار آلان بو , لم أجد في تاريخ ذلك الأدب من يستحق أن يمثل لي عظمة خالصة , واعترف أن العيب في ذلك مني أنا , لأني لم أقرأ فيه كفايته .ولكن � [...]

Hey Roth, I know you have a great vocabularyJust tell me a damn story. Let me explain: I just read a very positive review of this book stating that Roth has such an expansive vocabulary, and every word seems painstakingly chosen, etc. That is exactly what I hate about this book! A narrative is supposed to flow, not make you resolve to study the dictionary more fastidiously. For the record, I have a pretty good vocabulary and I thorouoghly enjoy creative uses of the English language. But I despis [...]

Shaming Academic Speech Censors, or A Pox on the PC Police“I'm very depressed how in this country you can be told 'That's offensive' as though those two words constitute an argument.” Christopher HitchensColeman Silk, a professor of classics at a local esteemed college, has been accused of racism by two African American students in one of his classes, after he notices upon calling roll that these two enrolled students never attend his class, and mumbles : "Do they exist or are they spooks?" [...]

The author sums it up perfectly on page 81"You area a verbal master of extroadinary loquatiousness[P. Roth]. So Perspicatios. So fluent. A vocal master of the endless, ostentatious overelaborate sentence."Yup. This book is the Jackson Pollock of our literary time. Just spatter everything all over the page and call it art. Roth goes on and on by using every single adjective he ever learned in his SAT class, in a row, then completely counters every argument he just made, so he can use all the oppo [...]

Here's what I know: if a book features some old dude fucking some younger lady, check the author's age. 100% of the time, he's the same age as the old dude.The younger woman will be vulnerable. She will be attracted to the older man's security and wisdom. There is a power imbalance, and it's basically the same thing as when Tarzan saves Jane from the lion. It's embarrassing, immature wish-fulfillment. And even when it's written very well, it's boring. This book is occasionally written very well, [...]

A masterfully architected tale about race, shame, violence, and remembrance, The Human Stain is definitely one of Roth's masterpieces. From its first pages, the reader is drawn into the mystery of Coleman "Silky" Silk né Silkzweig and his tragic downfall. The characters here are vibrant and real, the descriptions terrifying at times but always captivating, I found it hard putting this book down as I was relentlessly driven to want to know what happened - the mark of truly great writing. If you [...]

Ho da pochi minuti terminato la lettura de “La macchia umana” di Philip Roth. Ci sono quei libri che si insinuano all’interno del tuo consolidato nido di credenze, idee, saperi, pregiudizi, convinzioni - che hai fortificato con fatica e scrupolosa dedizione in vent’anni di scuola, vita familiare, cadute e ripartenze sentimentali - e sai già che non c’è più nulla da fare. Arrivano per scombussolare tutto, tocca ricostruire il castello di carta della tua identità da capo. Sono libri [...]

So I watched the movie, and I really shouldn't have. To quote Pope Pius VII, it sometimes makes you wonder if you're on the right planet. Anthony Hopkins plays an extremely white black man! And the ever-crushingly beautiful Nicole Kidman plays an illiterate woman who's a janitor! Yes! And we're supposed to take this seriously! And the actor who plays the young Anthony Hopkins looks absolutely nothing like him! It's so insane. I believe they take a lot of drugs in Hollywood, and this movie appear [...]

“The danger with hatred is, once you start in on it, you get a hundred times more than you bargained for. Once you start, you can't stop.” ― Philip Roth, The Human StainReading Roth is almost a spooky, sexual experience. I say that knowing this will sound absurd, trite and probably hyperbolic. But with Roth, his words are imbued with an almost carnal power, a spectral courage, energy and life. IT is like watching an absurdly talented musician do things with an instrument/with sound that be [...]

I read Roth’s Goodbye, Columbus and Portnoy’s Complaint in college, and loved them. They were funny, especially in depicting the lusts and lives of young men, with literary flair. But I didn’t read him again for no particular reason until relatively recently. I read the non-fiction Patrimony, about his relationship with his father, and The Plot Against America, a dark fantasy about a possible past where we choose a fascist dictator in the thirties instead of FDR. And now having completed h [...]

Roth scrive, si commenta, “si chiosa”, fa tutto da solo. Il lettore non può far altro che annuire più o meno vigorosamente. Lo definirei un ingegnere preciso e calcolatore, pronto a prevedere qualsiasi variante, qualsiasi obiezione alla sua costruzione. E’ sufficiente inoltrarsi nella lettura e tutte le risposte vengono date, i dubbi dissipati. Se si ama la scrittura di getto, spontanea, non si legga Roth, o meglio, Roth è spontaneo nella sua precisione. Nulla è scritto gratuitamente. [...]

الوصمة البشرية عرفت فيليب روث في (سخط)، ولكني تعرفت عليه حقاً هنا، في هذه الرواية المذهلة التي ستهزك من الأعماق، وستلتقي خلالها بشخصية من أعظم الشخصيات التي أنجبها الأدب، (كولمن سيلك) الزنجي الذي تنكر لأصوله ولعائلته، وعاش حياته كلها كرجل أبيض، أبيض إلى درجة أنه ويا للسخرية � [...]

رواية الوصمة البشرية لفيليب روث - صناعة أمريكية بيتية الصنع ب إمتياز - كسرت النموذج السامي و الموحد للرواية المثالية في نظري، ففي بطن ال٦٥٠ صفحة هذه، يوجد أكثر من حبكة تحرك الأحداث والشخصيات و لكن الأهم لكسر النموذج وسلطته التي تهيمن منذ مدة على جميع الروايات أن تكون هنالك حب [...]

Dio mio, Roth!

oh, phillip roth! you CARD. you IMP. no one makes me laugh like you. around this time last year i was on vacation on the cape reading american pastoral, another roth novella of fun and good humor! (read brinda's perfect description for an idea of that one.) i ended up forgetting the book there, with about forty pages left to read, and i never bought a new copy. i didn't care that i hadn't finished it because I WAS SO EXHAUSTED. the book wasn't bad. the book was great. but reading a roth opus is [...]

Set in New England, this book tells the story of a college professor accused of making a racist remark in one of his classes. The fact that what follows is patently unfair sets this book up as a commentary on extreme political correctness. There is a lot of ground covered here - Vietnam, Clinton/Lewinsky, racism and ageing to name a few - and in typical Roth style it is rich, clever, complex and, at times, ranting. Not what I'd call a relaxing read but hugely worthwhile if you're in the mood.

Diceva Camus che ' L'assurdo non libera: vincola'. Ecco, mi sembra che una costante dei libri di Roth sia fare un esperimento. Prendere un uomo mediamente soddisfatto , e gettarlo nell'Assurdo, nell'inspiegabile e crudele meccanismo della vita. Ci aspetteremmo, da parte di Coleman, un'opposizione fiera al giogo della 'reputazione'; una libertà di azione altrettanto solida che di pensiero. E, invece, quest' uomo carismatico, vincente negli studi come nello sport, si rivela come quanto di meno li [...]

O que encontrei neste livro:. as contradições de uma América capaz de conviver com o pensamento liberal e, ao mesmo tempo, com a hipocrisia do politicamente correto;. a liberdade e o preço que se paga para conseguirmos ser apenas nós próprios (Homem indivíduo vs Homem social);. racismo e identidade grupal;. o Amor e o sexo, mesmo depois dos 70;. os segredos e a revelação de memórias escondidas, que permitem construir a verdadeira identidade de cada personagem;. o elemento humano (a "ma [...]

Philip Roth at the top of his game. Each time I read one of his books I'm further impressed by his talent.The Human Stain digs deep into racism and its attendant politics in the 20th century. A light-skinned negro decides to "pass" as white and to do so successfully, he separates himself from his family. He enlists in the Navy as "white", attends college as "white", and marries a white woman as "white". After a long, distinguished career as a college professor and dean, he uses the word "spooks" [...]

[warning: spoiler!]The thing that attracts me about this novel is quite simply how it is told. The narrator, Nathan Zuckerman, is also a character (albeit a relatively minor one although he grows in importance as the story continues). He is not, therefore, omniscient, although this becomes easy to forget. The novel is written as though he were omniscient, and then draws attention to this gap repeatedly at moments where Zuckerman explains who told him what, how he knows certain bits of informatio [...]

This novel was disappointing - I expected much more from it. The story details the life of an African American college professor who has been "passing" as white since he was in his late teens. He hid this fact from everyone he knew, including his wife and children. His secret begins to unravel when he refers to two absent students as "spooks." Because the students are black, the remark is deemed racist, when he had actually intended the word to mean "ghosts." The writing is extremely dull and ra [...]

The only Roth I'd ever read was Portnoy, back when it came out (practically), and the Plot Against America - which didn't impress me at all. So I came to this book, which I listened to on audible, with a prejudice against Roth. I didn't like him, thought he was a fake, he didn't "look" like much of a writer to me, etc. etc. I probably wouldn't have gotten very far if I had been reading -- listening being a very different experience. (I do so much driving, that I listen to these things in drive-t [...]

Bulimico Roth. Mi pare quasi innegabile che qui dentro ci sia quanto di meglio il buon Philip abbia scritto (almeno riferendomi ai 5 o 6 letti finora).Ci sono una miriade di singoli momenti così diretti e illuminanti da lasciarti col fiato corto. Soprattutto nella seconda parte.Potevano essere cinque stelle ma talvolta la prende così alla larga da diventare quasi insopportabile.Però gigantesco. [78/100]

"Nel tentativo, senz'altro ammirevole, di crearsi, aveva l'impressione di essersi rovesciata."Possiamo dire, non senza un briciolo di presunzione, che il male della società contemporanea sia l'adattamento. Ciò che un essere umano, per costrizione o per sua semplice volontà, ricerca ogni istante della sua vita. Si adatta per sopravviere. Smette di rimpiangere la società passata o smette di idealizzarne una tutta sua dove, al posto delle maldicenze, ci siano rose e fiori. "La macchia umana", c [...]

Has being human in modern human society become a stigma? Judging by the novel The Human Stain humanism in the contemporary society is considered to be some kind of social defect.“He was not a firebrand or an agitator in any way. Nor was he a madman. Nor was he a radical or a revolutionary, not even intellectually or philosophically speaking, unless it is revolutionary to believe that disregarding prescriptive society's most restrictive demarcations and asserting independently a free personal c [...]

The Human Stain is a schizophrenic, if not unevenly written novel. It is as though it is written by different people, with variable success. While there is a central narrator, Nathan Zuckerman, through whose eyes and ears, we learn about the anti-hero Coleman Silk, there are different voices that make up the whole story. The most annoying one is the ranter, who keeps going on and on about Bill Clinton and his sexual indiscretions. The tirades are tiresome and irrelevant to the plot. The other vo [...]

Non si può ignorare una voce del genere nella moltitudine. Non si può non sentirsi scombussolati e interdetti. Non si può non leggere questo libro senza mettere in discussione quelle poche convinzioni che con fatica si tenta di racimolare. Ero timorosa di leggere qualcosa di questo autore e mi rammarico di non averlo incontrato prima perché davvero ti arricchisce e qualsiasi cosa ti ritrovi a leggere dopo non ha lo stesso sapore. Consigliassimo.