American Pastoral
by Philip Roth
2020-09-22 23:42:29
American Pastoral is the story of a fortunate American's rise and fallâof a strong, confident master of social equilibrium overwhelmed by the forces of social disorder. Seymour "Swede" Levovâa legendary high school athlete, a devoted family...
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American Pastoral is the story of a fortunate American's rise and fallâof a strong, confident master of social equilibrium overwhelmed by the forces of social disorder. Seymour "Swede" Levovâa legendary high school athlete, a devoted family man, a hard worker, the prosperous inheritor of his father's Newark glove factoryâcomes of age in thriving, triumphant postwar America. But everything he loves is lost when the country begins to run amok in the turbulent 1960s. Not even the most private, well-intentioned citizen, it seems, gets to sidestep the sweep of history. With vigorous realism, Roth takes us back to the conflicts and violent transitions of the 1960s. This is a book about lovingâand hatingâAmerica. It's a book about wanting to belongâand refusing to belongâto America. It sets the desire for an American pastoralâa respectable life of space, calm, order, optimism, and achievementâagainst the indigenous American Berserk.
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