Postmodernism

Any thorough study of Philip Roth requires some understanding of postmodernism: the techniques that define it as well as its place within the timeline of American literary genres. Roth draws from elements of modernism, as many postmodern writers do (considering the inevitable overlap between these movements) and his use of certain postmodern techniques and emphases might be compared to contemporaries like Don DeLillo and Paul Auster. This chapter will consider Roth’s placement as a postmodern author: the way he does and does not fit neatly into that category, his contributions to that particular literary movement, and the way he helped to carve out space for other, later postmodern writers, such as Jonathan Franzen, Jonathan Safran Foer, and Jonathan Lethem.