The Philip Roth Society

As we mentioned on Thursday, Philip Roth received an honorary doctorate from the Jewish Theological Seminary as part of their spring 2014 commencement exercises. Aimee Pozorski, President of the Philip Roth Society, was quoted in a piece by Beth Kissileff in the JTA concerning her thoughts on Roth's latest honor: “Ultimately, for the last 50 years, and despite opinions to the contrary, [Roth and the Jewish Theological Seminary] have fought for the same ideals all along [...]

Philip Roth's Farewell Tour, as we humorously call it, continues full speed ahead--this time with Stephen Colbert. Today news broke that Roth has accepted Colbert's invitation to appear, perhaps for a final-final interview, on The Colbert Report. As Hillel Italie put it in her piece for the AP, "Philip Roth, one of the world's eminent men of letters, is apparently confused about the meaning of the word 'retirement.'" The USA Today, the Huffington Post, the LA Times and others

We can always count on Andy Borowitz for his well-timed humor. In his "The Borowitz Report" published on the New Yorker site on May 20, Borowitz proclaims: "The novelist Philip Roth announced today that a sandwich he ate last week, a turkey one with lettuce and tomato on wheat, would be his last." With Philip Roth announcing a series of "lasts," it was only a matter of time before something like this appeared.

At the 120th Commencement at the Jewish Theological Seminary today, Philip Roth received the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa. Please visit the Jewish Theological Seminary site for more information.

This year at the 25th annual American Literature Association Conference, the Philip Roth Society will sponsor two sessions and hold its annual business meeting. This year’s event will take place on May 22-25, 2014, at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The schedule for the events is: Sunday May 25, 2014 - 8:30 - 9:50 Session 22-C Roth and Arendt (Bunker Hill: Ballroom Level) Chair: Aimee Pozorski, Central Connecticut State University 1. “Facts,

The latest issue of Philip Roth Studies (Vol. 10, No. 1) has just been published, and members of the Roth Society, if they do not already have their copies, should be receiving them soon. This one is the final issue edited by Philip Roth Society and Philip Roth Studies founder, Derek Parker Royal. The table of contents includes: Editor’s Column – Derek Parker Royal Sartrian Nothingness: Roth’s The Ghost Writer, The Anatomy Lesson, Zuckerman Unbound, The Prague Orgy, and Exit

In a recent piece in The Guardian, Robert McCrum writes of Roth's long kiss goodnight. This seems to be the year of "lasts" for Roth. Last summer he told Charles McGrath he was giving him the last newspaper interview for the New York Times; Jennifer Schuessler notes, at the 92nd St Y event two weeks ago, Roth announced it was his last public reading. At some point, and with great sadness, the last of the "lasts" will truly be the last.

Roth reads at the 92nd Street Y: His last public reading, he tells the New York Times.

Lisa Scottoline, author of Keep Quiet, recounts her experience of having Philip Roth as a professor in the 1970s. The course was titled, naturally, "The Literature of Desire."