Operation Shylock: A Confession
Philip Roth's very literary novels, most famouslyPortnoy's Complaint, have always had the feel of confessional autobiography.Operation Shylockboasts not only a character named Philip Roth, a Jewish-American novelist, but an impostor who is claiming to be him. Roth's impostor causes a furor in Israel by advocating "Diasporism," the polar opposite of Zionism, encouraging Israelis to return home to eastern Europe. In Israel the real Roth attends the trial of a former Nazi, and also observes at a West Bank military court dealing harshly with young Palestinians. Through stark counterpoint between distorted doubles, along with his trademark bawdy humor, Roth comically explores the tensions of his identity as a writer, as a Jew, and as a human being.Operation Shylockwon the PEN/Faulkner Award for 1994.--This text refers to thePaperbackedition.