Public Confessions: The Religious Conversions That Changed American Politics by Rebecca L. Davis (review)

Abstract

casionally be deemed racist and misogynist, “when it comes to the Philip Roth of flesh and blood the case for monstrousness has yet to be made” (128). If we accept Berlinerblau’s argument that the mark of Philip Roth’s genius is his vertiginous portraiture of selfhood, then no biography can ever qualify as the truth about the “Real Roth.” Who, then, is The Philip Roth We Don’t Know? This clever title refers not only to the sexist and racist Roth, but also to the brilliant dramatist of the very impossibility of biography. Berlinerblau’s final remarks, presumably a concession to the times, actually read more like a challenge to the simplistic readings of cancel culture. The Philip Roth We Don’t Know is an indispensable point of departure for any conversation of Roth’s legacy.