Goodbye Columbus

by Philip Roth

Paperback

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Classics, Jewish, Literature, Literary Fiction, American

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1959

About the author

Philip Milton Roth was an American novelist and short-story writer. Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophically and formally blurring the distinction between reality and fiction, for its "sensual, ingenious style" and for its provocative explorations of American identity. He first gained attention with the 1959 short story collection Goodbye, Columbus, which won the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction. Ten years later, he published the bestseller Portnoy's Complaint. Nathan Zuckerman, Roth's literary alter ego, narrates several of his books. A fictionalized Philip Roth narrates some of his others, such as the alternate history The Plot Against America.
Roth was one of the most honored American writers of his generation. He received the National Book Critics Circle award for The Counterlife, the PEN/Faulkner Award for Operation Shylock, The Human Stain, and Everyman, a second National Book Award for Sabbath's Theater, and the Pulitzer Prize for American Pastoral. In 2005, the Library of America began publishing his complete works, making him the second author so anthologized while still living, after Eudora Welty. Harold Bloom named him one of the four greatest American novelists of his day, along with Cormac McCarthy, Thomas Pynchon, and Don DeLillo. In 2001, Roth received the inaugural Franz Kafka Prize in Prague.

Reviews

[Vit Babenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s summertime… They are young… They have a date… They swim in the swimming pool…

I didn’t care for anything but Brenda. I went to pull her towards me just as she started fluttering up; my hand hooked on to the front of her suit and the cloth pulled away from her. Her breasts swam towards me like two pink-nosed fish and she let me hold them. Then, in a moment, it was the sun who kissed us both, and we were out of the water, too pleased with each other to smile.

It was the summer of love… They were so dissimilar… They belonged to different social circles…
Now it’s autumn… And the autumn does them part…

Already we had sent our first letters and I had called her late one night, but in the mail and on the phone we had some difficulty discovering one another; we had not the style yet.

However sad it may be but there always comes a time to say goodbye to one’s youth.

[Mac · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is his first book. Screw him.

[Julie G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Road Trip 2020

Current location: New Jersey

Philip Roth and I were born forty years and twenty minutes apart, in neighboring towns in New Jersey.

Though I left The Garden State by age two, Roth lived most of his life there and became, for me, a voice to represent the curiosity I'd always maintained about my birthplace.

I couldn't even imagine choosing a writer other than Roth for this portion of my road trip. Not one other writer entered my mind.

But, just for the record, I hate Philip Roth.

Hate his fucking guts.

I've dated some version of Philip Roth a least a dozen times. Good looking guys that made me crack up and want to go out to dinner with them. . . and then wouldn't stop talking about their Jewishness: being Jewish, being different, being circumcised, being the only Jew who hasn't traveled to Israel, being the only Jew who eats bacon, privately, at home.

Oy!

I once went out for turkey burgers and fries in college with an almost seven-foot-tall Adonis. I wanted to kiss this guy so badly, I couldn't even eat my burger. I was trying to keep my mouth free of food, slowly nibbling at the fries for something to do with my hands, while I contemplated the intriguing two feet of difference in our heights.

Turns out, the guy had one Jewish parent and one Catholic parent and the entire date was spent with him talking about his commitment to wearing a yarmulke throughout all three years of public middle school and how much he was ribbed and beaten up and how a girl like me could never understand the struggle of the Jews or his painful decision to choose not to be Orthodox.

Vey!

Good God, french fries have never grown colder on a plate.

Look, I know the Jews have had a helluva history on our planet and have endured what no other cultural or religious group has, but the thing is. . . I LOVE THE JEWS.

I grew up among Jews, my best friends have always been Jewish, and I dated so many Jewish men in my youth, my Midwestern, conservative father sat me down once to ask me if I had contemplated the possible ramifications of marrying someone of a different faith.

But here's who didn't love the Jews: Philip Roth! The man just could not get over his Jewishness. Good God, man, let it go! LET IT GO!

I wish I would have had the foresight when I began this 136-page novella, Goodbye Columbus, to highlight how many times Roth uses the word “Jewish.” Truly, it must be an astounding amount.
If ever a man struggled to make peace with his cultural identity or God through his writing, it was Philip Roth (Graham Greene might come in second place).

But, despite Roth's tiring obsession with Judaism, it is not why I hate him.

I hate him because he writes like a GODDAMNED BRILLIANT BASTARD.

This collection was his DEBUT, and it makes me want to throw pens and rocks and packs of used birth control pills at his grave.

You've got a lot of nerve, Roth.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

"You had a nice bath?"

"Nice, shmice, it was a bath."

Oy, is this a Jewish collection if I ever read one! Vey, it's damn brilliant, too. Philip Roth was no putz at the tender age of, what, 26? when this, his first book was published - and then won the National Book Award.

He got in a lot of trouble at the time in his own community, for airing the "dirty laundry", so to speak. But these stories are gorgeous, and I think they are told with humour and compassion, not a wagging finger of condemnation.

It's LATER that Roth begins his self pitying whine-fest. Not here. Here, unencumbered by obsessive self-loathing omnipresent in his other work, in which he carries a constant albatross of his Jewish identity around his neck, it all but choking him, he is simply BRILLIANT.

The title story of this 1959 collection is a novella (and, I just discovered, a film starring the lovely Ali MacGraw) which is charming, funny, engaging, and just plain wonderful. A story of first love, of clashes of class within a culture, of moneyed people versus those further down the totem pole, of the way people manipulate to get what they want. And there's Gladys, the quintessential food-pushing Jewish aunt, whose presence delighted me each time.

I was worried about how the next five shorter stories could possibly follow such an act. But oh, what follows is divine. "The Conversion of the Jews" absolutely riveted and touched me. A young Jewish boy dares to question his rabbi on the topic of immaculate conception. Wow. "Epstein" made me laugh, but also ache, witnessing his humiliating mid-life crisis. "Eli the Fanatic", while amusing, touches on the pressure for the Jews to assimilate to American culture, and the shame some Jewish people feel when their own people don't conform.

When I turned the last page of this book, I had the same feeling that I had after reading J.D. Salinger's Nine Stories: I have experienced something absolutely remarkable. Roth, I'm used to being annoyed by you. But I have to say, after reading this? You're a mensch!

[Michael Finocchiaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of stories is splendid. Unbelievable that they were the very first ones Roth published as they are already so evocative and polished. If you were put off by Roth because you only read Portnoy's Complaint or Sabbath's Theater, you should read this book to see that there is a whole other side to Roth and a beautiful sensitivity as well.
RIP (1933-2018). One of America's literary giants has left us.

[Fabian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Roth is basically a cosmic anomaly.* He wins Major Award #1 (out of like, a dozen TOTAL)--the National Book Award--for this, his freshman effort, thereby launching his oeuvre, his unique contributions to the zeitgeist, his Master's talent & CONFIDENCE. But does it deserve it?

For the future career of this literary cosmonaut, yes; but as a stand-alone debut? Absolutely not!

It is a love story of a "I'm this type of Jew but you are this type of Jew" variety. Historically significant, yet overrated, overpraised. I suppose. "Know it exists," says me. "Don't read it." (i.e. "On the Road," "Under the Volcano," "Tropic of Cancer," "Mao II" et. al.)

As for the accompanying stories--well, this is Philip Roth. So although we do get the rotten novella out of the way in the beginning (**), the short stories are very good (****). Earlier Roth is way more playful here than anything that comes later (you hardly ever laugh in any of his dramatic American tragedies); dare I say, picaresque?

Two of the stories are even about childhood, which we NEVER really see in his beloved novels. (Kinda reminds me of another premiere writer, Mario Vargas Llosa. His own short story collection at the beginning of his career, "The Cubs and Other Stories," likewise portrays children & childhood--what it is to be green in something one day you will master! What it is to give up forays into shortstoryland for a titanic career as novelist!) Roth's five s.s. are all ambitious, topical, jarring (even funny--this is, again, like soooo rare for Roth*!)--important to the fabric of American history.

*hyperbole, maybe

PS RIP

[Tim Null · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've given ratings to each individual story:
Goodbye, Columbus = 4
The Conversion of the Jews = 3
Defender of the Faith = 5+
Epstein = 2
You Can't Tell a Man by the Song He Sings = 3
Eli, the Fanatic = 3

[Evan · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Curiously, the darkness seemed to have something to do with Harriet, Ron's intended, and I thought for a time that it was simply the reality of Harriet's arrival that had dramatized the passing of time: we had been talking about it and now suddenly it was here — just as Brenda's departure would be here before we knew it." -Goodbye, Columbus

How often do I think of the passing of time in this way, as Roth describes it in this poignant, wistful and utterly beautiful book. "Goodbye, Columbus" already shows a master's hand in his debut. It's not about a love affair or class and social differences so much as it is about the passing of time. The love affair, which is supposed to be so ecstatic, is tinged constantly with the sad realization of its ending. The whole story is pervaded by a sense of inevitability and loss. That the outcome can be nothing but loss. It's as if the loss has already happened.

The sense of place, of the arid stasis of dependency, the outsider, the fish out of water...all captured so perfectly.

Some will likely fixate, wrongheadedly IMO, on the dated elements (eg., the "colored boy", the diaphragm, the parental shock over premarital sex)... So be it.

The part that really brought tears to my eyes was when Brenda's brother, Ron, the clueless athlete being seemingly ushered into a marriage to please all parties, listens to a record album of his glory days as a basketball star. Again, the sense of something bygone, the glory days behind one already at such a young age. Now hustled into the banal mandates of social expectation. Ron laying on the bed, drinking in the last of his youth for the last time. This moved me so much. I could hear the record album; Roth describes it so perfectly. Like everything else in the novella, it flies off the page for me.

But I initially delved into this svelte volume of early works by first reading one of the five additional short stories, "Defender of the Faith," on recommendation of a young reading pal. As I read it I wondered if this piece was where all the charges of Roth being a "self-hating Jew" had begun, and as I read on Wikipedia, it apparently was.

So, Roth dares to look at things with more complexity than black and white and eschews neat and childish political boundaries and simplistic feel-good categories. All the more reason to show the man some respect.

The story was superb.

The man writes like an angel, as a friend once put it.

The short stories:
Each is splendid in its way. All dealing with Jewish assimilation in post-war (WWII) USA.

"Defender of the Faith" and "Eli, the Fanatic" are the two longest ones, about 40-50pp. each. The latter is an interesting tale with some tinge of magical realism about assimilation vs. tradition; Jews in postwar America not wanting to upset the apple cart in the land that has treated them best of all the places on earth in their long struggle for peace; feeling shame about their orthodox past being out in the open in small-town America. Eli is a lawyer sent by his own assimilated colleagues to send the old-school Jews packing; but he tries to affect a compromise, sensing the injustice and feeling guilty about his own role in the process. The impending birth of his son elicits issues of continuity, tradition and self-identity as a Jew. The idea of a suit, not just as an outer piece of cloth than can be exchanged or replaced, but as an external manifestation of one's inner identity, etc.... Good stuff.

"Epstein," another of the longer stories, tells of the mid-life crisis of a hardworking Jewish breadwinner; seemingly disrespected at home and tortured by a sense of life passing him by all around him. The inevitable lure of an affair,...

"You Can't Tell a Man by the Song He Sings." This one, honestly didn't do much for me, but it was fun.

"Conversion of the Jews." A cute story about magical revelations stemming from a boy's act of questioning and rebellion. Violence should not be a part of imparting faith on children, etc.

In all of the stories, Roth's characters are not heroic, they are human and contradictory. Some people have trouble wrapping their heads around this.

All the stories in this book should be read, not just "Goodbye, Columbus."

[Heidi (can’t retire soon enough) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read the title long story. That was enough for me. I picked up the book because when Roth died earlier this year, I realized I’d never read anything he’s written. And I wanted to right that wrong.

I understand why Roth is a celebrated author of his generation— unfortunately his voice may be of singular insight to his generation.

Or maybe the material was too dated to really embrace it. Beware- cultural references to people of color are firmly (and understandably) rooted in the late 1950s when this book was written. Roth’s storyline about an African-American boy’s obsession with a library book was actually my favorite part of the story. Sadly, I was reminded that we haven’t come that far, despite the 60 years that have passed.

There are some universal themes covered and he does them justice. Class distinction is tackled by many authors— some better than others.

Roth’s prose gave me a real glimpse into his Everyman’s inner turmoil. (If Everyman was a young, white, Jewish vet stuck living with an overbearing Aunt, working in a meaningless job and always wanting something more.) Roth’s dialogue was spot on— I could imagine what his characters looked and sounded like, despite the fact Roth doesn’t spend too much time describing characters. I can imagine how his prose alternately shocked and maybe even moved his late 1950s readers.

I am most definitely from a working class NJ family— so I had that in common with Roth’s main character. Roth tightened the noose of middle class values right around his young couple’s throats. Unfortunately, I just didn’t care enough about any particular character, except the boy.

I detected an undercurrent of anger, or maybe self-loathing, that both saddened me and left me with out of breath with hopelessness by the story’s end.

I can say I tasted the flavor of a Roth dish and it’s just not something I’d order again, although I can certainly appreciate the skill in the dish’s preparation.

(Reviewed 6/18/18)

[Erasmia Kritikou · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Σ αγαπούσα Μπρεντα και γι αυτό νοιαζόμουν"

"Κι εγώ σ αγαπούσα Νιλ"
Κι έπειτα ακούσαμε τον αόριστο που είχαμε ξεστομίσει και κλείστηκαμε ο καθένας στον εαυτό του χωρίς να μιλάμε.

_________________

Όλα μου τ αστερια για τον Φιλιπ Ροθ, αυτο το παντοτινά αδικοχαμένο Νομπελ.

Δεν ξερω τι να πρωτοπώ γι αυτον τον συγγραφεα. Γραφει οπως αναπνέει: τοσο φυσικά.

Οι ιστοριες του ειναι (σαν) αληθινές, ολα ειναι τοσο πιστευτα, τοσο πραγματικά, τοσο προσεγμένα στην λεπτομέρεια που ειναι λες και το βιβλιο το εγραψε το χερι καποιου θεου, και δεν υπαρχει ανθρωπινη παρεμβολή - ουτε λάθος.

Αυτο ειναι το πρωτο βιβλιο που δημοσιευσε, το εγραψε μολις 26 χρονων. Ι rest my case.


Ειναι τοσο ευφυής, τοσο παρατηρητικός, εχουν ολα του τα γραφομενα μια τετοια θαυμαστή οξυδέρκεια
που καθε φορα με αφοπλίζει, με γοητευει, με ρουφαει μεσα στις σελιδες του.

Σαρκαστικός, νευρωτικός, παρα πολυ υποδορια και χοντροκομμένα αστειος με πολύ σοβαρα θεματα (θρησκεια, εβραισμος, ολοκαυτωμα, την εννοια της οικογενειας), ξεμπροστιαζει καθε ταμπού και το χλευαζει με το πιο λεπτο και το πιο μαυρο χιουμορ.

Ειναι σα να ειναι δεσμιος μεταξυ της εβραικής του κληρονομιας, και της δυτικοτροπης σκέψης.
Σα να ταλανίζεται αναμεσα στα γιντις και στο Αμερικάνικο Ονειρο.
Σα να προσπαθει ν αποτιναξει απο πανω του την βαριά παραδοση που εχει ριζωσει απο τα παιδικάτα του, ξορκιζοντας και κοροιδευοντας τους πιο ιερους θεσμους των εβραιων, και ταυτοχρονα να τους σεβεται βαθιά.

Δεν ξερω πως το κανει, δεν μπορω να το εξηγησω.

Μπορω μονο να τον παρακολουθω γοητευμενη σε καθε του βιβλιο, σε καθε του σελιδα σε καθε του συναρπαστική λέξη, σε καθε λεπτη αποχρωση σκέψης και να με συνεπαιρνει και να τον θαυμάζω και μετα να παραληρω σε καθε μου κριτική που αφορά οτιδήποτε γραμμένο απ το χερι Του.



Αυτοπεριοριζομαι να σταματησω εδω.

Για μενα, ο Ροθ αποτελει ενα case study και ταυτοχρονα ενας εξαιρετικός σταθμός στην νεοτερη Παγκοσμια Λογοτεχνια.

Και δε θα κουραστω να το λεω: ντροπη στην Ακαδημια που εδωσαν εκεινη τη χρονιά Νομπελ στον Μπομπ Ντυλαν (!) και την επομενη χρονια πεθανε το αγορι μου λιγο πριν τα επομενα. Και δεν προλαβε. Και δεν αναγνωρίστηκε.
Καλα τους εκανε ο Ντυλαν που δε πηγε καν στην απονομη. Ακυρη τελειως και αδικη επιλογη.
#ΚατιΔικαΜου


_______________________-

"Με δάκρυα στα μάτια, ποιος βλέπει καθαρά;"

[Cosimo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Non ero altro che questo

Scrivere di Roth in questi giorni vuol dire perdersi in una foresta di parole e emozioni; bisogna cercare di ridursi all'essenziale, all'energia minima, al senso di assenza che è in continua formazione. Intanto, dico subito che questi racconti sono tutti bellissimi; due in particolare sono straordinari: quello che dà il titolo alla raccolta e l'ultimo, intitolato Eli, il fanatico. Già nel 1960 dopo aver pubblicato i racconti su riviste prestigiose e averli raccolti in volume, l'esordio letterario viene riconosciuto come altamente rilevante con il conferimento nel National Book Award, elogiato da Saul Bellow, incipit per una carriera arricchita di innumerevoli premi. Roth scende sotto la soglia della percezione, per parlarci di amore e passione, del brivido dei corpi che si incontrano, dell'attrito tra le differenze personali e sociali, di come spesso la tristezza sia dolce e la nostalgia imprevedibile, quando davvero si provano sentimenti autentici. E soprattutto quando si è molto giovani: vivi, vivi, vivi, non ti distrarre mai, non rinunciare a nulla, sembra suggerire l'autore. Ecco come ci parla della fine di una relazione: Feci tutto ciò che avevo fatto prima, ma ora ogni attività era come circondata da un recinto, esisteva isolatamente, e la mia vita consisteva nel saltare da un recinto all'altro. Non c'era un filo conduttore, perché Brenda era stata proprio questo”. Poi Roth racconta l'ebraismo, il dissidio tra ragione e fede, tra tradizione e modernità, ambientando le storie tra adolescenti, a scuola, nell'esercito, nello sport, nel matrimonio; critica le tensioni individuali e collettive, interroga le angosce comuni. Riesce a essere comico in modo irresistibile, senza privarci di uno sguardo umanista e tragico, anche nell'ironia e nel sarcasmo verso la morale conforme. Racconta di un ragazzo che perde la testa e sale sul tetto di una sinagoga osservando come in un cielo capovolto il rabbino, i compagni e i vigili del fuoco; descrive come un avvocato laico perda la ragione nel contatto con l'ortodossia e il sacro, narra l'infedeltà di un inguaribile romantico che spinge il desiderio fino ai limiti fisici e spirituali. Roth è artista nello scavare al di sotto delle cose e porre poi su di esse uno sguardo pieno di pathos e pietas insieme. E sempre sorride e si immedesima, senza giudizio, senza falsa ingenuità, con lo scarto di esistere e lavorare, nella felicità e nella vergogna, lottando riga dopo riga, frase per frase, immagine per immagine. Ritrae un mondo dove la ricerca del piacere è estenuante e i personaggi, indagati dentro e fuori, sono confusi per la perenne incertezza sul futuro. Trattando temi archetipici, Roth descrive un'umanità differente, magari non migliore, ma certamente aperta alla trasformazione e al suo rovesciamento.

[Tracy P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goodbye, Columbus earned Philip Roth many awards and much acclaim, shining a bright spotlight on his life and career and propelling his popularity to new heights.

The writing is beyond phenomenal and outrageously riotous. Mr. Roth was undoubtedly an exceptional intellect - a true scholar and witty satirist rolled into one. How wonderful it would have been to have known him. What a rich, full and remarkable life he led.

[Celeste Corrêa · Rating 4 out of 5]

(lido em Janeiro de 2016)
«Goodbye Columbus e Cinco Contos» do conceituado e premiado Philip Roth foi o meu primeiro contacto com o autor.
Gostaria de escrever uma resenha bonitinha, mas falta-me o que sobra a Philip Roth: talento.
Como leitora, posso dizer, sem qualquer restrição, que adorei não só «Goodbye Columbus», como também os cinco contos que lhe seguem, em especial «A conversão dos judeus » e «Eli, o fanático».

Todo o livro tem um elo de ligação – o mundo judaico americano.

A escrita é maravilhosa, inesperada e singular. Os enredos despertam curiosidade, estão repletos de reviravoltas, e quase todas as personagens são inesquecíveis.
Uma certa excentricidade, um sentido de humor muito de acordo com o meu, e o factor surpresa tornaram a leitura muito absorvente.
Li devagar, aproveitei ao máximo e, com pena, cheguei ao fim.
Se Goodbye Columbus é uma história de amor de Verão, daquelas que começam e acabam sem se saber exactamente o porquê, a minha com Philip Roth parece ser o início de uma longa amizade.

Porto, Janeiro 2016

[robin friedman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Newark In Short Hills

I turned to Philip Roth's first novel, the National Book Award winner "Goodbye Columbus" (1959) after reading a late book of Roth, the short novel "Nemesis" (2010). I wanted to compare the themes and writing of this great American storyteller over the long years of his writing career. This was my first reading of Roth's early masterpiece. While an excellent book, "Nemesis" does not have the verve of Roth in his rambunctious, iconoclastic youth.

Both the early and the late Roth novels feature a 23-year old male Jewish protagonist from the lower middle class of Newark, New Jersey. In "Goodbye Columbus", the chief character and narrator is Neil Klugman, a graduate in philosophy from a local public university who has served in the army and is working in the local public library until he determines what he wants to do with his life. Neil is living with his aunt and uncle to save on the rent; his parents have relocated for health reasons to Tuscon. Roth has a remarkable ear for colloquialism and for the rhythmic speech patterns of Newark Jews.

The story centers on a summer romance between Neil and Brenda Patimkin of the suburb of Short Hills. Brenda's family had its origins in Newark, but with the economic success of the father's business in kitchen and bathroom sinks, the Patimkin's have relocated to a wealthy suburban home with all the amenities. Brenda is a student at Radcliffe and is spending the summer at home. Roth's "Nemesis", set earlier in the 1940s has a somewhat similar pairing of wealthy and poor Jews. Its protagonist is a young man, nicknamed "Bucky" (and Brenda Patimkin goes by the nickname of "Buck") who is in love with a wealthier girl, Miriam, the daughter of a physician from the near suburbs, and who visits her, at her invitation, at a summer camp in the Poconos far from sweltering Newark.

Roth's Jewish characters frequently have a passion for sports and athletic activity, probably to counter stereotypes of over-intellectualized individuals. In "Nemesis" young Bucky is a physical education instructor who is gifted at hurling the javelin and at diving. In "Goodbye Columbus" as well, the story turns in part on Brenda's prowess at tennis and on Neil's ability to run. Equally important Brenda's older brother is a recent graduate of the University of Ohio, Columbus, where he starred on the basketball team. Much of "Goodbye Columbus" centers upon the brother's garish wedding to a young woman from the midwest.

"Goodbye, Columbus" tells the story of the relationship between Neil and Brenda, which begins by chance, and quickly over a summer becomes intense and sexual. Brenda, pampered, wealthy, and spoiled and the rough around the edges Neil are attracted to and seem to want to love each other. But their relationship teeters upon their differences in economic background which led to suspicions and jealousy and backbiting. Neither family trusts the other, and ultimately the two young people cannot find a place for one another. Roth portrays masterfully these different social classes in American Judaism of the 1950's and the strong tensions between people of essentially the same background. He writes with genuine sadness about the failed relationship and with, in light of the criticism Roth's early work sometimes received, sympathy for both his flawed protagonists and their families. And in "Nemesis", Roth's late novel, he writes with nostalgia and affection for the Jewish community of his youth, both those of the poor inner city and those who had managed through education to reach the suburbs. In addition to showing the difference in class and wealth, Roth's novel turns upon the sexually repressive mores of the 1950s, a theme which also finds its place in "Nemesis" and in many of Roth's other novels.

The short early novel of about 135 pages is masterfully written for a young writer as Roth develops both character and location. He is more at home with Newark than with the suburbs, writing, for example, "Once I'd driven out of Newark, past Irvington and the packed-in tangle of railroad crossings, switchment, shacks, lumberyards,Dairy Queens, and used car lots, the night grew cooler." (p8) The plot develops with an inner logic and with tension. Every step tells and contributes to the story. To take one example, Neil describes his encounter with a young African American boy at the Newark library who escapes into the stacks to look at art books of Gaughin's portraits of Tahitans. (At that time many young boys looked at art books to see nude human bodies. Roth's young child seems to have a larger-based interest). There are parallels between Neil's relationship to the young boy on the one hand and his relationship to Brenda on the other. And the child's fascination with the far-away Tahiti suggests Neil's longing for the seemingly unattainable world of Short Hills and Brenda.

In addition to "Goodbye,Columbus" this edition also includes five stories Roth wrote as a fledgling author. These stories seem to be the basis for stories that Roth attributed to the young writer, Nathan Zuckerman, in his book, "The Ghost Writer" The Ghost Writer which received criticism, in Roth's telling, for their claimed negative portrayal of American Jews. The best of these five stories is "The Conversion of the Jews" which shows Roth's fascination with and skepticism about theological questions. Both "Goodbye, Columbus" and "Nemesis" share this preoccupation with religion which ends, in both early and late Roth, in secularism.

An astonishing early effort, "Goodbye, Columbus" remains one of Roth's best works and is an excellent introduction to this author who has recently passed away. This is a book I would have liked to have read when younger.

Robin Friedman

[Makis Dionis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Εβραίοι . θρησκεία και συντηριτισμος το κλασσικο μοτίβο του Ροθ που απο τα πρωτα βήματα αντιπαρατίθεται με την καθεστηκυία τάξη

[Ian "Marvin" Graye · Rating 4 out of 5]

CRITIQUE:

The Life of American Jews

This volume is a collection of a novella ("Goodbye, Columbus") and five short stories that Philip Roth published in three magazines ("The Paris Review" [3], "The New Yorker" [1] and "Commentary" [2]) between 1956 and 1959.

The works concern Jewish personal, family, social, educational, professional and work life, mostly during the years of publication, when the narrators are about 22 or 23 years old.

America's "Trouble With Jews"

In a catalogue of influences in its preface, Philip Roth reveals that -

"His cultural ambitions were formulated in direct opposition to the triumphant, suffocating American philistinism of that time: he despised Time, Life, Hollywood, television, the best-seller list, advertising copy , McCarthyism, Rotary Clubs, racial prejudice, and the American booster mentality...

"The magazine to whose strategies of cultural attack and techniques of literary assault he felt an immediate affinity was Philip Rahv's intellectually combative Partisan Review."

It doesn't come as any surprise that this fiction involves conflict, confrontation and combat.

Even within families (and families in law), there are quarrels between parents, parents-in-law and children about religious matters.

Characters argue about (and make decisions based on) the streams of Judaism to which they belong, (like Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism, and Reform [or Progressive] Judaism). The only stream missing is Secular Judaism.

More Than "Mundane Household Dramas"

Roth describes his stories as "mundane household dramas of his Jewish New Jersey". His approach to, and insight into, these dramas came from reading "Commentary" in the 1940's and 1950's. For him, the magazine was "an expression of ineluctably Jewish self-scrutiny".

The narrator of the novella, Neil Klugman, is close to proposing to his girlfriend, Brenda Patimkin, when he meets her mother for the first time. She asks him whether he is Orthodox or Conservative, to which he responds equivocally. Even though she reveals that "Brenda is nothing" (perhaps hoping that Neil might convert her to Orthodox or Conservative Judaism), the tensions that arise in the family inevitably lead to the collapse of their relationship.

"The Conversion of the Jews" sees the narrator's family and his school friends fall apart over an argument with their rabbi about whether "Mary hadda get laid", in order to give birth to Jesus.

"Defender of the Faith" involves a dispute between Protestants and Jews about work and leave conditions in a training camp after the end of the war in Europe.

"Epstein" concerns a man whose wife mistakes a skin irritation on his leg for syphilis, and demands a divorce.

"You Can't Tell a Man by the Song He Sings" concerns the relationships between Jewish and Catholic pupils at a school, supervised by a teacher who (unbeknown to the Principal) turns out to be a Marxist.

"Eli the Fanatic" relates to a Modern Jewish lawyer who represents a Jewish educational institution in a zoning dispute with Protestant neighbours who oppose it moving into the suburb. Everybody encourages him to cease being a "fanatic", and to compromise his views and principles:

"Common sense is the ruling thing, Eli. I'm for common sense. Moderation...Common sense says to me they go and find a nice place somewhere else, Eli."

It's implicit in Roth's approach that Jews and Jewish narrators need to be more adversarial and combative to succeed in the America of the 1950's. Fortunately, for us readers, Roth had the intelligence to follow his own advice. "Goodbye Columbus" itself would win the 1960 National Book Award (ironically beating Saul Bellow's "Henderson the Rain King").



Joel Russ, Hattie, Ida and Anne (Russ and Daughters)


SOUNDTRACK:

Three Generations of the Russ Family

https://www.thirteen.org/jewsofnewyor...

Russ & Daughters: 100 Years of Appetizing

youtube.com/watch?v=0TTdRXt2GAw

Feel-good Doco,"The Sturgeon Queens", film-maker Julie Cohen Tracks Smoked Appetizing Purveyors

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEHqI...

"Before she ever heard the word “feminist,” Russ & Daughters helped shape Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s idea of what’s possible for women."

Lou Reed - "Egg Cream"

youtube.com/watch?v=d5KUHWKHifI

Laurie Anderson: "Lou and I went to Russ & Daughters every week..."

"May their memory be a blessing."

[Ourania Topa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Το πρώτο βιβλίο που εξέδωσε ο Roth λίγο πριν σκάσει μύτη η "επαναστατική" δεκαετία του '60, όταν η αύρα της αθωότητας ήταν ακόμη αισθητή και οι έννοιες της ενοχής και της αμαρτίας είχαν ακόμη γερές ρίζες στην αμερικάνικη και ιδιαιτέρως στην εβραιοαμερικάνικη οικογένεια. Από την ομώνυμη νουβέλα, όπου με χιούμορ, σαρκασμό αλλά και σοβαρή διάθεση ενδοσκόπησης και κριτικής στάσης ο Νηλ, ο νεαρός εβραίος αφηγητής, περιγράφει το καλοκαιρινό του ειδύλλιο με την Μπρέντα, την μοσχοαναθρεμμένη κόρη μιας νεόπλουτης - επίσης εβραϊκής - οικογένειας των προαστίων, σίγουρα θα μείνει στην μνήμη μου το επεισόδιο με το νεγράκι που αναζητά τα βιβλία με τους πίνακες του Γκωγκέν στη Δημόσια Βιβλιοθήξη του Νιούαρκ, όπου εργάζεται ο ήρωας: επεισόδιο αντιστάθμισμα στο νεοπλουτισμό και στην τυραννική εβραϊκή ηθική με την οποία αποπειράται να συμβιώσει ο Νηλ για χάρη του έρωτα.
Από τα διηγήματα που συμπληρώνουν την νουβέλα, θεωρώ το Ο ΠΡΟΣΤΑΤΗΣ ΤΩΝ ΕΒΡΑΙΩΝ το πιο δυνατό: η χρήση της εβραϊκής ταυτότητας προς ίδιον όφελος είναι από τα θέματα που απασχόλησαν αδιάκοπα τον Ροθ στην εξηντάχρονη συγγραφική του καριέρα.

[Dona's Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite story in this collection is Defender of the Faith, which, I think, offers an interesting and creative perspective on institutional antisemitism. Besides that, Roth's style is stunning. He gives clarity new meaning, making him easy to read, and thus easy to enjoy.

[Peter]

If Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s is the New York novella about flirting with the city’s upper crust, then Philip Roth’s Goodbye, Columbus is the suburban story for the rest of us.

A coming-of-age story about a summer romance, it plumbs tensions from class, generational, religious, and educational differences, and it does so in a way that is instinctive and visceral. While not the most self-aware, sensitive, or rational, the story’s characters—Neil Klugman, a twenty-three year-old man from the poor neighborhoods of Newark, and Brenda Patimkin, the privileged and pretty young woman from Short Hills—are caught in the throes of imminent adulthood, and their flailing pulls Roth’s readers further and further into the personal tensions that drive the story.

The result is that Goodbye, Columbus is about as human a novella as I know—human in the character’s confusion about their feelings and human in their often-irrational responses to these feelings.

Do I recommend it? Yes. A complex but natural read.
Would I teach it? Yes, but it would have to be to the right group. The writing is rich with meaning and ripe for discussion, but some of the content (though a remarkably small amount of it) might seem dated or awkward.
Lasting impression: Tightly and creatively constructed, Goodbye, Columbus offers sharp insight into and humor about the vicissitudes of burgeoning adult romance.

[Chaunceton Bird · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is it any wonder that Philip Roth is one of the most awarded authors to ever live? This, his first book, is written so well, that it almost doesn't matter what the stories (there's one novella and a handful of short stories) are about. Reading Mr. Roth is like fine dining. Nobody expects some unthinkable twist at the end of a delicious meal. That said, Mr. Roth's endings do not disappoint. These are incredibly well-written stories that I'd recommend to anybody wanting to see English put to its best use.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Roth’s debut??? Well. Why would I even try? Or I can get inspired instead?

It’s quite difficult to land a 5/5 collection of short stories. The highlight of this one is the main story/novella, Goodbye, Columbus. It’s all downhill from there, but the hill does not descend steeply. Rather, it’s a gentle, rolling decline, with bumps and grooves along the way. I thoroughly enjoyed Defender of the Faith and Eli, the Fanatic. I guess I really like reading about the theme of struggles within the diaspora.

[Matthew Ted · Rating 3 out of 5]

24th book of 2022.

Despite owning over 5 Roth novels, I only read my first (Portnoy's Complaint) last year. The next step, in my head, was reading some of his big famous ones, but I actually changed my mind and decided to backtrack. So, his debut: very Jewish, a theme which persists throughout his oeuvre, and less humour than his over-the-top sexed-up novel about Portnoy. The majority of this book is given to the titular "Goodbye Columbus", which is a good story, probably a 4-star, about a young couple. The other short stories were fine, some completely forgettable and others with moments of greatness but otherwise nothing special. But as far as debut goes, it's no surprise this launched Roth as a new and exciting writer and allowed him to become one of the big white American gods that ruled over the literary world for years, with Mailer, Updike, Vonnegut, et al.

[Kuszma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Azért több mint imponáló, hogy Roth már hamvas kiscsirke korában ilyen profi író volt. Korai írásait olvasva az a legfeltűnőbb, hogy épp csak kibújt a tojásból, máris teljes vértezetben (tollazatban?) áll előttünk. Ha vannak is kiforratlanságok, azok csak a késői Roth-tal összevetve feltűnőek - egy átlagos író összetenné az összes kezét, ha érett korában így tudná megírni a dolgokat.

És hogy mik azok a dolgok, amelyeket Roth megír? Hát, csak a szokásos. Hagyomány és modernitás konfliktusa. Zsidó identitás helye az egyéni vágyak és a XX. század kontextusában. Sajátságos vétkeink és hibáink következményei. Ami a plusz, hogy Roth ezt valami tündökletes, fanyar öniróniával tudja mondatokká szublimálni - ilyen értelemben pedig ő is azon írók nemes családjába tartozik, akik a kritika eszközével szeretik szeretni a közösséget, és benne önmagukat. Az ilyen írók pedig ugyan keverednek kellemetlen szóváltásokba a családi ebédlőasztalnál ("Phil! Tudod te, mit műveltél? Megint beleírtad Eli bácsit a novelládba! Hát hogy álljon így a szomszédok elé???"), de hogy tőlük lehet a legtöbbet tanulni, az hétszentség.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, so this is finally happening.

---

I assumed I'd have some overpowering reaction to this now that I was finally reading it (I only read the novella, not the other stories), but I didn't. Now I guess I get why people like Philip Roth so much: he's a terrific writer, and I enjoyed reading this book. I got a little bored halfway through, nothing serious, but I wasn't as crazy about it as I was at the start and didn't itch to pick it back up when I'd happened to set it down.

I feel embarrassed and bad about myself that I don't have anything urgent I need to say about this. Again, it was very good, though the only thing I think will really stick with me is how glad I am not to be female in the nineteen-fifties.

[Ο σιδεράς · Rating 5 out of 5]

Στο δικαστήριο της βιβλιοθήκης μου:

- Πρόεδρος Χ. Μπ. : Να προσέλθει ο μάρτυς σιδεράς. Παρακαλώ μιλήστε μας για το  "Αντίο Κολομπους", μάρτυς..

-Σίντερ.: Κύριε Πρόεδρε, κωλυωμαι.. το λόγο επί προσωπικού, παρακαλώ.. 

-Πρόεδρας Χάρολντ Μπλουμ: Ορίστε κυρ Σιδερά, μιλήστε..

- Σιντ.: Κυρίες, κύριοι ένορκοι, αρνούμαι να καταθέσω κριτική για έργο του Ροθ. (σούσουρο).. Εξηγούμαι:

Δεν υπάρχει ποτέ περίπτωση να δώσω σε βιβλίο του Φίλιππα λιγότερα από πέντε αστεράκια Πο-Τέ.. Κάποια δικά του ίσως μου αρέσουν λιγότερο (όπως η «Απάτη», πχ) - αλλά ο Φιλίπ ήταν αυτός που:

με πήρε απ το χεράκι,

έβγαλε τα εισιτήρια,

αγόρασε τα χοτντόγκ και 

με άφησε στην θύρα του Κάμπ Νόου Λογοτεχνία, όσο χρειαζόταν να συνέλθω απ το δέος, προτού καθίσουμε στις θέσεις μας και μου εξηγήσει πως παίζεται η συγγραφική μπάλα..

Εντάξει, γίνομαι τώρα πιο δραματικός κι από ηρωίδα του Αλμοδόβαρ, αλλά για μένα η λογοτεχνία μοιράζεται σε δύο κατηγορίες: η δεύτερη δεν είναι τα έργα του Ροθ (διαμαρτυρίες από εφημεροπτερα)..

Μπλουμ: Ησυχία.. Ορντινο ειπαμε!! Είστε καλά, παιδί μου; 

Ροθακιας: Σιωπώ Μεγαλειωτατε, ζητώντας την επιείκεια του σώματος. Α ναι, το Κολόμπους.. καλό είναι!

-          Δον Χαρόλντο: Να αποβληθεί ο μάρτυς, ως αναξιόπιστος.. 

-          Σιδεράς:  Μα, είναι ο αγαπημένος μου συγγραφέας, Προεδρε..

-          Προφέσσορ Κρουέλο: Τα ίδια έλεγες και προχθές, για τον Ναμπόκοφ.. Έξω, πριν δώσω εντολή να σε κλείσουν στη βιβλιοθήκη του δικαστηρίου χωρίς τροφή και νερό..

-          Σιντ Βίσιους: Να σας μιλήσω λίγο και για τον Χαβιέρ Μαρίας, σενιόρ;

-          Σαίξπηρ Junkie:  Όξωω!

Σπέσιαλ ποστ, το παρόν.. Στέλνεται από check in  αεροδρομίου, στην αφετηρια προσκυνήματος προς τα δάση των υπερβορείων (της Σουηδίας, συγκεκριμένα). Με το συμπάθιο για την υπερχείλιση του χειμάρρου - της πολυλογίας μου δηλαδή.. 

Willie Colon - Juana Peña  YouTube https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CqF3Y85...

[LW · Rating 4 out of 5]

La spuma che somigliava all'amore

Ogni tanto tornavamo alle nostre sedie a intonare esitanti,ingegnosi,nervosi ,gentili ditirambi su quello che stavamo cominciando a provare l'uno per l'altra. In realtà non avevamo i sentimenti che dicevamo di avere finchè non riuscivamo ad esprimerli:io,per lo meno ;enunciarli era inventarli e possederli.
Montavamo la nostra estraneità e la nostra inesperienza in una spuma che somigliava all'amore,e non avevamo il coraggio di giocarci troppo a lungo,di parlarne troppo ,per timore che si afflosciasse e finisse in niente.
Così facevamo la spola tra le sedie e l'acqua della piscina,tra le chiacchiere e il silenzio,
e considerando l'incrollabile nervosismo in cui mi precipitava la compagnia di Brenda, e le alte mura di egocentrismo che si ergevano,contrafforti e tutto,tra lei e la sua conoscenza di se stessa,
ce la cavammo piuttosto bene.

Questo è l'esordio di P.Roth...e direi che se l'è cavata piuttosto bene, il giovane Philip, altrochè! :)
è una chicca succulenta ,davvero !
Per iniziare la conoscenza oppure
per chi già conosce la sua scrittura, per sorridere sotto i baffi individuando i primi tratteggi di certe tematiche o similitudini con personaggi poi sviluppati in romanzi successivi :)
4 stelle e mezzo

[Julian Worker · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading these stories although ultimately they left me with no overriding emotion other than I'm glad to have read a book by Philip Roth and I probably won't be busting a gut to read another.

Don't get me wrong, the writing is really good and I can see the conflict and social status causing the affair between Neil and Brenda in Goodbye, Columbus but ultimately I'm not sure what that's supposed to show me other than such things happen to people? The affair was doomed from the start and I'm sure both characters knew that but carried on anyway knowing there was an end always in sight.

[Elina · Rating 4 out of 5]

1 νουβέλα και 5 διηγήματα! Το πρώτο βιβλίο που έγραψε ο Roth όταν ήταν 26 χρονών! Και μόνο για αυτό το λόγο αξίζει τα 4 αστεράκια!!!

[Gauss74 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una buona notizia per tutti, la ristampa di questo Goodbye Columbus che contiene in sè l'esordio di uno dei più grandi romanzieri contemporanei: permette infatti di apprezzare la ariosa e precisissima prosa di Philip Roth ed il disvelarsi in embrione di alcune delle tematiche che caratterizzaranno tutta la sua opera, ma privi dell'amaro e terribile cinismo delle opere mature (che per certi versi ne costituiscono il limite).

Il libro si struttura in un romanzo breve e cinque racconti, e se fin dalle prime pagine si riconosce il cristallino talento, lo spirito è del tutto nuovo e tipicamente giovanile; nelle scene e nei sentimenti. Questo principalmente nel romanzo che da il titolo al libro, dove si racconta con pagine delicatissime l'incontro di un adolescente con l'amore ed il suo farsene una narrazione. La meraviglia dell'attrazione che nasce è stata resa con grande efficacia, così come la delusione ed il senso di vuoto che lasciano quelle storie di un'estate che poi da adulti scopriamo non essere mai state davvero "importanti", viste da fuori.

Altri argomenti sicuramente conosciuti nel Roth maturo vengono toccati, come il rapporto degli ebrei americani con l'ortodossia, ma sempre da un punto di vista "giovanile" o "infantile". I protagonisti infatti di volta in volta affrontano le situazioni con grande senso dell'umorismo e del buffonesco, ma sempre animati da una capacità di sognare e di darsi degli ideali, con un senso del giusto e dello sbagliato di cui nello scatenato Zuckerman non c'è traccia.

Resta comunque importante notare per chi conosca già Roth, come già dall'esordio sia stato un problema decisivo e mai risolto il superamento della sudditanza con la storia del "popolo eletto", sempre vista in maniera così ingombrante da mettere in discussione la "americanità" degli ebrei immigrati. Leggendo l'intervista che annuncia il sipario che cala sulla sua opera, si vede che sino alla fine Roth viva questo con disagio e difficoltà: quanta sofferenza ma anche quanta fonte di ispirazione per un gran numero di capolavori, se abbraccia l'intera opera di un maestro ormai ottuagenario!

Ne emerge da un lato un libro scoppiettante di umorismo ma capace di toccare tematiche profonde, che tratta tematiche giovanili dal punto di vista giovanile ma già capace di grande maturità; per gli amanti del grande scrittore di Newark un'interessantissima opera sia per capire come l'avanzare degli anni ha inciso sulla sua produzione sia per godersi al meglio le grandi doti di affabulatore e la stregonesca capacità di prosatore senza dover per forza affrontare la rabbia ed il cinismo del disilluso Animale Morente.Per gli amanti dell'ottima letteratura, consigliato.
Per gli amanti di philip roth, indispensabile.

[Shane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roths’s earlier books are fresh, humorous and vibrant compared to his recent work that is self-obsessed with aging, potency and dying. Goodbye Columbus is just such a vibrant collection that portrays, with humour, the angst of the Jews in New Jersey, transplanted from the recent Holocaust, and trying to find their place in the New World, hindered by a Socialist past, yet striving to become part of the Capitalist ideal.

In the title story—a poor-boy-meets-rich-girl (who was once poor but can’t remember it) novella, a coming of age story and a bidding goodbye to the protected world of university days—the innocence of growing up in the ‘50’s comes out. A young couple driving in the Lincoln Tunnel on a secret mission are doing nothing more serious than having a diaphragm fitted, unknown to their parents; whereas contemporary literature would insinuate a more diabolical purpose involving drugs, bombs or homicide. The Jewish family structure is placed under the microscope when the brother of the rich girl is forced to marry and join the family home renovation business in order to earn a living, just because he has knocked up his girlfriend. When the extended family assembles for the wedding party, the dysfunction of an upwardly mobile family is laid bare. Uncle Leo Patimkin is by far the most interesting character, a travelling salesman, who has been left behind in the social climbing and has a lot to say about it, especially after a few bottles of champagne.

In the following five shorter pieces, themes of guilt, separatism, survival, assimilation and neuroticism—typical challenges facing the newcomer—play out. In the “Conversion of the Jews,” a young Jew exploits his Rabbi and mother’s guilt over being responsible for his impending suicide by getting them to accept that divine births are possible if they believe in an omnipotent God. In “Defender of the Faith,” a Jewish army recruit cloyingly inveigles special privileges from his (also Jewish) sergeant and uses strategic lies to gain advantage. In “Epstein,” we see the classic immigrant who built himself up from scratch, now in middle age, trying to boost his sex life with a bit on the side and falling outside the norms established for his people, with disastrous consequences. “You Can Tell a Man by the Song He Sings” pits the incumbent ex-con American schoolboy against a brainy Jewish kid, where the moral of the story is that those who have been “in the can” know how to wreak their revenge and yet stay out of trouble compared to those naive ones who play by the rule book. The final story, “Eli the Fanatic,” is the most powerful, for it deals with the issue of assimilation and posits the question that it is the responsibility of both the incumbent and the outsider to make inclusion work. Eli’s plunge into neurosis and nervous breakdown signals to us that in 1950’s America this assimilation was still a long way off.

For a book released in the 1950’s this collection must have been a rather candid piece of literature, and I’m sure as much as Roth caught America’s attention with it, he must have lost some fans among the Jewish diaspora. The mourning of one’s woes in public, at the expense of patient listeners, the fact that Jewish men at 23 were expected to live at home with their parents, that pre-marital sex even with a diaphragm was considered grounds for family upheaval, and that even the military had to accommodate for Kosher food, must have been uncomfortable skeletons to be aired for upwardly mobile Jews trying to make it in the New World and become part of the mainstream. And yet, these practices may be considered quite normal today, given that: we have public social media to reveal our most intimate gripes, unemployed young people are returning to parental homes in droves, sexual abstinence is making a comeback, and the military is bending over backwards to accommodate diversity in its ranks.

I found the typical stylistic flaws of the writer in the early stages of his career; some scenes and situations are difficult to visualize and the narrative is unwieldy in places. Roth’s later work is more polished, but he seems to have acquired that polish at the expense of sacrificing that “in your face” humour that oozes out of Goodbye Columbus, making it an excellent read.