Liberalism, autonomy and the open mind in Philip Roth's drama of the 1960s

Powell, Joshua 2023. Liberalism, autonomy and the open mind in Philip Roth's drama of the 1960s. Pozorski, Aimee and Scheurer, Maren, eds. The Bloomsbury Handbook to Philip Roth, New York: Bloomsbury, pp. 47-56.

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Abstract

This chapter rethinks Philip Roth’s relationship with liberalism by reading his little-known drama of the 1960s alongside the mid-century social scientific discourse of open-mindedness. Existing critical discussions of Roth’s work have considered the degree to which Roth endorsed liberalism, as well as the extent to which his work was driven by political concerns. This critical discussion has frequently focused on his later historically-concerned works. The chapter offers a new perspective on Roth’s liberalism by considering more abstract and lesser-known works such as “Buried Again” (1964), and “The National Pastime” (1965). These plays present patriarchal figures responding to sudden, dramatic and often surreal changes to their lives and environments. To what extent, the plays seem to ask, can these individuals ‘open their minds’ to new ways of living? This aspect of Roth’s drama invites us to consider his work alongside that of mid-century social scientists such as David Riesman and Milton Rokeach. These thinkers are commonly identified as proponents of a centrist liberalism that valorized ‘autonomy’ and ‘open-mindedness’, and, to some extent, Roth can be seen to operate in this tradition. However, these plays also hint at Roth’s sympathy for the ‘closed-minded’ character, and suspicion of the liberal valorization of flexibility and autonomy. The chapter ultimately argues that Roth’s plays offer a critique of mid-century liberal discourse, albeit one that appreciates and instantiates the open-minded sensibility that mid-century liberalism endorsed.

Item Type:	Book Section
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	English, Communication and Philosophy
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) P Language and Literature > PS American literature
Publisher:	Bloomsbury
ISBN:	9781501380242
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	22 March 2024
Last Modified:	14 Jun 2024 01:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/166634

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