 First edition cover | |
| Author | Philip Roth |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Novella, short story collection |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
Publication date | May 7, 1959[1] |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 298 |
| ISBN | 0-679-74826-1 |
| OCLC | 2360171 |
| Followed by | Letting Go |
Goodbye, Columbus is a 1959 collection of fiction by the American novelist Philip Roth. The compilation includes the title novella, "Goodbye, Columbus," originally published in The Paris Review, along with five short stories. It was Roth's first book and was published by Houghton Mifflin.
In addition to the title novella, set in Short Hills, New Jersey, Goodbye, Columbus contains the five short stories "The Conversion of the Jews", "Defender of the Faith", "Epstein", "You Can't Tell a Man by the Song He Sings", and "Eli, the Fanatic". Each story deals with the concerns of second and third-generation assimilated American Jews as they leave the ethnic ghettos of their parents and grandparents and go on to college, to white-collar professions, and to life in the suburbs.
The book was a critical success for Roth and won the 1960 U.S. National Book Award for Fiction.[2] The book was not without controversy, as people within the Jewish community took issue with Roth's less than flattering portrayal of some characters.[3] The short story “Defender of the Faith”, about a Jewish sergeant who is exploited by three shirking, coreligionist draftees, drew particular ire. When Roth in 1962 appeared on a panel alongside the distinguished black novelist Ralph Ellison to discuss minority representation in literature, the questions directed at him became denunciations.[4] Many accused Roth of being a self-hating Jew, a label that stuck with him for years.[5]
The title novella was made into the 1969 film Goodbye, Columbus, starring Ali MacGraw and Richard Benjamin.
- ^ "Books Today". The New York Times: 30. May 7, 1959.
- ^ "National Book Awards – 1960". Retrieved 2012-03-30. There is a link there to Roth's acceptance speech Archived 2018-09-22 at the Wayback Machine. The National Book Awards blog for the 50th anniversary of Goodbye, Columbus is essays by five writers about the book. The annual awards are made by the National Book Foundation.
- ^ Zucker, David J. "Roth, Rushdie, and rage: religious reactions to Portnoy and The Verses." BNET. 2008. 17 July 2010.
- ^ Kaplan, Justin (September 25, 1988). "Play It Again, Nathan". The New York Times.
- ^ "Profile: Philip Roth: Literary hit man with a 9/11 bullet in his gun." The Times. 19 September 2004. 17 July 2010.