Podcast Summary: Steven J. Zipperstein, "Philip Roth: Stung by Life" (Yale UP, 2025)

Podcast: New Books Network
Host: Schneer Zalman Neufeld
Guest: Steven J. Zipperstein, Daniel E. Koshland Professor in Jewish Culture and History at Stanford University
Date: September 17, 2025
Book: Philip Roth: Stung by Life (Yale University Press, 2025)

Overview

This episode of New Books Network explores Steven J. Zipperstein's literary biography, Philip Roth: Stung by Life, which investigates the complexities of Philip Roth's life and work. In conversation with host Schneer Zalman Neufeld, Zipperstein discusses Roth's enduring preoccupation with Jewish identity, family, sexuality, and rage, as well as his uneasy relationship with biography and self-revelation. The discussion spans Roth’s upbringing in Newark, parental influences, landmark novels, controversies, and his continued cultural relevance.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Zipperstein’s Motivation and Approach

• Origin of the Project ([02:09]-[04:59])
  • Zipperstein, known for his scholarship on Eastern European Jewry, was drawn to Roth by personal connection and literary interest, particularly after encountering a pivotal taped event in Roth’s life. He saw biography as a means to probe Roth's relationship with memory and identity.
  • "Reading Roth at that moment just embedded his voice in my mind...what persuaded me in the end that I had something to say about him...was my discovery...of the taped version of an event that he would describe repeatedly in his fiction and his memoirs." —Zipperstein [03:20-03:40]

2. The 1962 Yeshiva University Incident: Memory vs. Reality

• Discrepancy Between Life and Art ([05:01]-[10:41])
  • The well-known incident at Yeshiva University, which Roth characterized as public excommunication by the Orthodox community, is reconsidered by Zipperstein, who accessed the original tape. He found that Roth’s sense of public rejection was more imagined than real: the audience was actually supportive, though a few vocal detractors confronted Roth afterward.
  • This event illuminates a broader tension in Roth’s work between felt experience and historical fact, as well as Roth’s preoccupation with rage and misremembrance.
  • "He made that in his mind, quite sincerely, I think, into what actually occurred..." —Zipperstein [08:35]

3. Roth’s Views on Biography and Secrecy

• Ambivalence Toward Biographical Scrutiny ([10:41]-[15:32])
  • Roth was both hostile and fascinated by literary biography. Despite craving privacy, he explored secrets and self-revelation in his fiction.
  • He had fraught relationships with would-be biographers, notably with Ross Miller and Blake Bailey. Bailey’s biography, though praised, was pulped due to personal scandals.
  • Roth viewed biography as both a threat and a potential counter-narrative, especially after his ex-wife Claire Bloom’s scathing memoir.
  • "By and large, he hated biography. And at the same time, he was enormously intrigued by biography." —Zipperstein [13:01]

4. Roth’s Family Background and Its Literary Echoes

• Family as Creative Bedrock ([15:32]-[17:56])
  • Roth’s parents, central to much of his fiction, were complex figures: his father, rambunctious and opinionated; his mother, attentive and quietly commanding. Their real-life traits contributed to the texture and contradictions of his imagined characters.

5. Bess Roth vs. Sophie Portnoy

• Mother Figures in Life and Fiction ([19:55]-[23:25])
  • Zipperstein explores the overlap between Roth’s mother, Bess, and the infamous Sophie Portnoy from Portnoy’s Complaint. Both are depicted as overbearing yet loving, molding Roth’s fixation on autonomy and rebellion.
  • Real-life anecdotes (e.g., Bess’s threatening knife scene) found their way into fiction, illustrating Roth’s method of transforming lived experience into literary art.

6. Jewish Identity and Cultural Context

• What Made Roth’s Home “Jewish”? ([23:25]-[30:45])
  • The podcast delves into the nuances of Jewish identity in postwar America. Roth’s family was not highly observant, but Jewishness permeated his social world, aspirations, and the neighborhood of Newark.
  • Despite limited Jewish textual knowledge, Roth’s preoccupation with Jewishness endured.
  • "His interest in Judaism per se is scant. His knowledge certainly is scant, and yet his preoccupation with things Jewish is pervasive up until the very, very end." —Zipperstein [28:18]

7. Newark’s Influence and Literary Parallels

• Newark as Roth’s Fictional Landscape ([30:45]-[35:16])
  • Roth's enduring focus on Newark mirrored Joyce’s fixation on Dublin. The city’s ethnic enclaves, irrationalities, and peculiarities shaped his imagination and thematic concerns.
  • Newark became both a source of material and a symbol of the world Roth left behind.
  • "He could only write about what he knows. And he knows nothing better than Newark, and hence he stays there." —Zipperstein [34:40]

8. Roth’s Appearance and Sexual Magnetism

• Roth as Young Man ([35:16]-[38:03])
  • Roth was physically attractive, athletic, and drew attention from women, including the real-life inspiration for Goodbye, Columbus. These experiences fueled his narratives of desire and romance.

9. "Stung by Life": Roth’s Rage and Restlessness

• Sources and Uses of Rage ([38:03]-[43:01])
  • Zipperstein discusses the origins and literary function of rage in Roth’s psyche and fiction. For Roth, rage was not just personal grievance but a lens for interrogating the world and his own creative compulsions.

10. Sex and “Schmutz” in Roth’s Work

• Sexuality as Manifestation of Truth ([43:01]-[49:27])
  • The host and Zipperstein reflect on the controversial prominence of sexuality (“schmutz”) in Roth’s novels. Zipperstein contends that Roth’s engagement with sex is inseparable from his drive to expose all facets of humanity, not just the “clean” ones.
  • "I don't know that you could disconnect preoccupation with sexuality from Roth...His preoccupation with Schmutz...has a direct bearing on his relentless preoccupation with the diminishment of old age..." —Zipperstein [44:42]
  • "To describe Jews without schmutz would be to describe them as less than human. And he's describing humans with all of their foibles..." —Zipperstein, quoting Roth [49:27]

11. Major Novels and Political Prescience

a. The Plot Against America ([50:17]-[54:09])

• The novel imagines an America led by Charles Lindbergh, aligned with Nazi Germany, resulting in a creeping, popular antisemitism. Zipperstein notes Roth’s uncanny ability to foresee aspects of Trumpism and the contemporary political climate.
• "For someone who's been accused by so many critics of being excessively self-preoccupied, there's a prescience in Roth, an uncanny prescience..." —Zipperstein [52:20]

b. The Counterlife and Operation Shylock ([52:47]-[54:09])

• These works delve into questions of Zionism, diaspora, and identity, demonstrating Roth's awareness of Jewish and Israeli dilemmas that have only grown more relevant.
• "His Operation Shylock, along with The Counterlife, are the finest portraits of the dilemma of Israel and Zionism on the part of any American writer." —Zipperstein [53:24]

c. Contemporary Parallels

• Both host and guest remark on how Roth’s ambivalent view of Jewish identity and politics, especially regarding support for authoritarian figures, remains strikingly current ([54:09]-[57:44]).

12. Roth’s Enduring Literary Relevance

• Not “Dated” Like His Peers ([57:44]-[59:53])
  • Zipperstein observes the cold relevance and honesty in Roth’s writing, in contrast to contemporaries like John Updike.
  • "He’s not dated in the way in which so many of his incredibly talented contemporaries feel dated today...his writings...remain alive..." —Zipperstein [57:44]

13. The Meaning of "Stung by Life"

• A Life of Relentless Intensity ([59:27]-[59:53])
  • The title comes from a phrase Roth used in a eulogy and encapsulates Roth’s persistent susceptibility to life’s pleasures and pains.
  • "I'm not describing it as simply the byproduct of pain, but the byproduct of a constant awareness of the power of life and the interplay between its better moments and...more awful moments." —Zipperstein [59:44]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Roth’s self-mythologizing:
  "He's not a historian, he's a fiction writer. And so he's allowed to make things up, and even not. And he doesn't need to stick to facts, per se. But what it led me to was a deeper understanding of rage in Philip." —Zipperstein [09:52]

• On biography:
  "Roth perhaps was more preoccupied with secrecy than most. There’s an interplay in Roth...between a tendency to just reveal things that others would sequester and...to hold tight things that he kept just to himself." —Zipperstein [11:32]

• On sexuality in Roth's work:
  "Sex is enormously powerful, and schmutz, as Roth understands it, is not exclusive to sex. And at the same time, all of that is utterly crucial to what it is that life is about. So I'd urge your friend not to skip those pages." —Zipperstein [48:43]

• On Jewish identity:
  "You can be so Jewish and be largely indifferent to Judaism per se. And hence the notion, the difficulty of actually identifying who Jews are, remains, I think, a persistent mystery." —Zipperstein [29:24]

• On the enduring vitality of Roth's fiction:
  "As much as I was immersed in this book, I never tired of his writings. And they remain alive, I think, because of the way in which he threw himself into his writings and was willing to interrogate and criticize so many of his own impulses." —Zipperstein [59:07]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Zipperstein’s entry into Roth biography: [02:09]-[04:59]
• 1962 Yeshiva University incident: [05:01]-[10:41]
• Roth’s attitude to biography: [10:41]-[15:32]
• Family and influence: [15:32]-[19:55]
• Comparison: Bess Roth & Sophie Portnoy: [19:55]-[23:25]
• Jewish identity, scholarship, and paradox: [23:25]-[30:45]
• Newark, Babel, and literary parallels: [30:45]-[35:16]
• Roth’s appearance & women: [35:16]-[38:03]
• Rage and its literary uses: [38:03]-[43:01]
• Sex, “schmutz,” and honesty: [43:01]-[49:27]
• Plot Against America & political foresight: [50:17]-[54:09]
• Israel, Diasporism, The Counterlife: [52:47]-[57:44]
• Relevance and stung by life: [57:44]-[59:53]

Conclusion

Steven Zipperstein’s Philip Roth: Stung by Life and this insightful interview together show Roth as a writer shaped by family, rage, sexuality, Jewishness, and an unflinching gaze at the undercurrents of American life. His fiction—rooted in Newark, family drama, and self-exposure—remains urgent and relevant. Zipperstein’s biography both honors Roth’s complexity and provokes new questions about memory, identity, and what it means to be “stung by life.”