Philip Roth, may or may not be the best living writer in USA today, I don't really know enough about American writers to cast judgement on that. What I do know, is that he certainly is one of the top writers in the world today, and that The Human Stain is a remarkable book.
It's about the college professor Coleman, who resigns after being accused of racism. The story is told by Roth's alter-ego Zuckerman.
The Human Stain works on many different levels, it's both a personal and a national story. The thing I find most interesting is the problems regarding statements, truth and knowledge. Because it is not an omniscient narrator, we can't just take every statement to be the truth. This poses some interesting questions, when for example the narrator tells us of the innermost feelings of a woman he has never met, is he just making stuff up, or what? It reminds me of Citizen Kane, in that the novel tries to do a exhaustive portrayal of a man, only to realize that it isn't possible. As the narrator Zuckerman states:
- You can't know anything. The things you know you don't know. Intention? Motive? Consequence? Meaning? All that we don't know is astonishing. Even more astonishing is what passes for knowledge.
On top of that, the book is so well written. The prose is absolutely beautiful, and also quite difficult if English isn't your first language. At times when I read it, I felt like applauding, because language, themes, characters and story all come together, and make for one of the best contemporary novels I've read.
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