Philip Roth is regularly categorized as a Jewish American writer, a label that was longa source of frustration to the author, who resisted the notion that his work must be viewed through the lens of one facet of his identity. As early as 1963, he affirmed at conference in Israel, “I am not a Jewish writer, I am a writer who is a Jew,” a sentiment he reiterated more than once over the course of his career. Taking into account Roth’s own commentary as well as his contributions to a literary representation of Jewish identity, this chapter will discuss the cultural impetus for and implications of deeming Roth a specifically “Jewish writer” or “Jewish American” writer.

Though Roth has often been categorized as a Jewish American writer, one of the foremost criticisms leveled at his early work was that it was not appropriately Jewish – that, in fact, it was not good for the Jews, as some felt it did not portray Jewish culture or religion in a flattering way. And indeed, nothing is sacred in Roth’s work – not even depictions of the sacred. This chapter will focus on the relationship and conflicts between secular and religious Jewish identity, providing some context for the ways Roth engages with different definitions of what it means to be Jewish.