Philip Roth death: Tributes pour in for 'truly great American writer'
'We all wanted to be Philip Roth. None of us came close'
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The writing world has begun mourning the loss of award-winning satirist Philip Roth, the famed author of American Pastoral, who has died aged 85.
One notable name to pay tribute was David Simon, creator of The Wire, who has been working on a TV adaptation of Roth's provocative novel The Plot Against America.
"Improbably, I had the honour of meeting Philip Roth just a few months ago to discuss an adaptation of Plot Against America," Simon wrote on Twitter. "At 85, he was more precise and insightful, more intellectually adept and downright witty than most any person of any age. What a marvellous, rigorous mind."
Former Monty Python member Eric Idle called Roth an "amazing novelist", while author David Baddiel said of Roth on Twitter: "The last of those who David Foster Wallace called the Great Male Narcissists - Bellow, Updike, Mailer and him - to go. He was properly funny. Not high literature funny. Laugh out loud, stand-up funny. And all the other stuff he could do, but funny is the thing."
Michael Green, the screenwriter behind Logan and Blade Runner 2049, tweeted: “We all wanted to be Philip Roth. None of us came close.”
Roth’s literary agent, Andrew Wylie, said the author died in a New York City hospital of congestive heart failure. He published over 25 books and was a fearless narrator of sex, death, assimilation and fate, from the comic madness of Portnoy’s Complaint to the elegiac lyricism of American Pastoral.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments