19 Philip Roth The Human Stain

Description: The American Novel Since 1945 (ENGL 291) In this lecture on The Human Stain, Professor Hungerford traces the ways that Roth's novel conforms to and pushes beyond the genre she calls the Identity Plot. Exploring the various ways that race can be construed as category, mark, biology, or performance, the novel ultimately construes the defining characteristic of its protagonist's race to be its very concealment. Secrecy is, for Roth, the source of identity and the driving force behind desire and narrative. Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: open.yale.edu This course was recorded in Spring 2008.