Top of the Roths

When James Marcus interviewed Philip Roth for a profile in the Los Angeles Times last year he asked him what he thought of the film adaptation of Portnoy's Complaint. “Unspeakable” came the reply. Whilst he liked the film version of Goodbye Columbus he went on to summarise it as a “a movie about shouting. Jewish shouting.” - going on to “give a brief, comical example, which strikes me as a specimen of literary history, like Thoreau demonstrating how to peel the bark off a birch tree.” Marcus has since set the aforementioned holler to a dance beat providing all discerning literary types with a chance to grab a ringtone with pedigree. What do you think? Did Roth miss his calling?

Jewish Shouting