The Operated Roth: Jewish Male Body Image and the Search for Zionist Identity in Philip Roth's Operation Shylock

Abstract:Most of the Jewish men in Operation Shylock (1993) are somehow disabled, often as the result of an orthopedic injury. This trope can be read as a reflection of the ancient anti-Semitic slander that the Jewish body is inherently deformed. This essay demonstrates how Roth displaces this stereotype with reference to the orthopedic injury suffered by the Biblical patriarch Jacob when he wrestles with an unidentified adversary, known only as the ish, and argues that the author uses this trope to illustrate the struggles of the modern-day Jewish man with his own "Jewish conscience" about his personal responsibility to the State of Israel.