Put down your books, all of you out there who have been trying, day after day, week after week, to pin down who the greatest living American novelist is. The answer is here at last. And it's Philip Roth.
That's according, at least, to a "panel of 30 literati" – the likes of Salman Rushdie, Nell Freudenberger, Gary Shteyngart and, erm, James Franco – who were asked the question by New York magazine's Vulture site "to assess [Roth's] oeuvre" ahead of his 80th birthday next month.
Yes, Roth is the greatest living American novelist, said 77% of the illustrious panel. The other 23% – ie the other 6.9 people (does that mean one person was 90% convinced but 10% dismissive?) – thought not, although Don DeLillo was the only other writer mentioned as a possibility, and some respondents declined to nominate anyone.
Is Roth a misogynist? they were later asked. Yes, said 17%. No, said 30%, Umm, said a non-mathematical 52%. What is his greatest subject? Himself, said 43%. Does he deserve to win the Nobel? Yes, said 97%. What is his best book? Sabbath's Theater got the most votes - 24% - as well as the support of none other than Bret Easton Ellis, who called it "his last truly outrageous novel".
It feels a little absurd to try to quantify this sort of thing, but there's some intriguing bits and bobs further down the Vulture piece, when individual authors are sounded out on their views of the Great Man. Asked what she most disliked about Roth, Freudenberger admitted she doesn't "like the way he writes about women, and I don't like the way I sound complaining about it". Charles Bock, meanwhile, when asked what he most admired about the novelist, responded: "That he's hilarious, that he upended the notion of the American Jew, that he's a lightning rod, that the Cro-Mag part of him enables so many furious and exasperated and superb essays, and that he doesn't seem to give two shits – all of it."
Writers nominate their favourite Roth sentences: David Bezmogis rates The Ghost Writer's: "Virtuous reader, if you think that after intercourse all animals are sad, try masturbating on the daybed in EI Lonoff's study and see how you feel when it's over." There are ruminations on his alter egos, and thoughts on sex – "if you hated women, why would you spend all your time thinking about fucking them?" asks Keith Gessen.
It's certainly worth a read. But does it beat 2009's dance track featuring Roth's "Jewish shouting"? I'm not convinced …
