''The Ghost Writer'' is a 1979 novel by the American author

Philip Roth Philip Milton Roth (March 19, 1933 – May 22, 2018) was an American novelist and short story writer. Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophicall ...

. It is the first of Roth's novels narrated by

Nathan Zuckerman Nathan Zuckerman is a fictional character created by the writer Philip Roth, who uses him as his protagonist and narrator, a type of alter ego, in many of his novels. Character Roth first created a character named Nathan Zuckerman in the novel '' ...

, one of the author's putative fictional

alter ego An alter ego (Latin for "other I", " doppelgänger") means an alternate self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other self, one with a differen ...

s, and constitutes the first book in his ''

Zuckerman Bound ''Zuckerman Bound'' is a trilogy of novels by Philip Roth, originally published in 1985. Plot Each of the books follows the struggles and writing career of Roth's novelist alter ego Nathan Zuckerman. Contents The bound trilogy consists of: ...

'' trilogy. The novel touches on themes common to many Roth works, including identity, the responsibilities of authors to their subjects, and the condition of Jews in America. Parts of the novel are a reprise of ''

The Diary of Anne Frank ''The Diary of a Young Girl'', also known as ''The Diary of Anne Frank'', is a book of the writings from the Dutch-language diary kept by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherl ...

''. Moraru, Christian (2005
''Memorious discourse: reprise and representation in postmodernism''
pp.224-25

Plot introduction

Nathan Zuckerman is a promising young writer who spends a night in the home of E.I. Lonoff (a portrait, it has been argued, of

Bernard Malamud Bernard Malamud (April 26, 1914 – March 18, 1986) was an American novelist and short story writer. Along with Saul Bellow, Joseph Heller, and Philip Roth, he was one of the best known American Jewish authors of the 20th century. His baseba ...

or Henry Roth, or a composite of both), an established author whom Zuckerman idolizes. Also staying in the Lonoff home is Amy Bellette, a young woman with a vague past whom the narrator apparently comes to suspect of being

Anne Frank Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – )Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed"New research sheds new light on Anne Fra ...

, living in the United States anonymously, having survived the Holocaust. Many have observed similarities between Lonoff and

Isaac Bashevis Singer Isaac Bashevis Singer ( yi, יצחק באַשעװיס זינגער; November 11, 1903 – July 24, 1991) was a Polish-born American Jewish writer who wrote and published first in Yiddish and later translated himself into English with the help ...

Television movie

In 1983 a television adaptation was made of the book in the UK. It was directed by

Tristram Powell Tristram Roger Dymoke Powell'Powell of The Chantry' pedigree, Burke's Peerage website (born 25 April 1940) is an English television and film director, producer and screenwriter. His credits include ''American Friends'', episodes of series Foyle's ...

and starred Rose Arrick,

Claire Bloom Patricia Claire Bloom (born 15 February 1931) is an English actress. She is known for leading roles in plays such as ''A Streetcar Named Desire,'' ''A Doll's House'', and '' Long Day's Journey into Night'', and has starred in nearly sixty film ...

Sam Wanamaker Samuel Wanamaker, (born Wattenmacker; June 14, 1919 – December 18, 1993) was an American actor and director who moved to the United Kingdom after becoming fearful of being blacklisted in Hollywood due to his communist views. He is credited as ...

, Cecile Mann,

MacIntyre Dixon MacIntyre or McIntyre is a Scottish surname, relating to Clan MacIntyre. Its meaning is "Son of the Carpenter or Wright". The corresponding English name is Wright. People surnamed ''MacIntyre'', ''Macintyre'' * Alasdair MacIntyre, Scottish p ...

Mark Linn-Baker Mark Linn-Baker (born June 17, 1954) is an American actor and director who played Benjy Stone in the film ''My Favorite Year'' and Larry Appleton in the television sitcom '' Perfect Strangers''. Early life and education Mark Linn-Baker was bo ...

, Ralph Morse,

Joseph Wiseman Joseph Wiseman (May 15, 1918 – October 19, 2009) was a Canadian-American theatre, film, and television actor who starred as the villain Julius No in the first James Bond (film series), James Bond film, ''Dr. No (film), Dr. No'' in 1962. Wiseman ...

, and Patricia Fellows.

Critical reception

The book was widely praised at publication. In ''

The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

'', critic Harold Bloom said of the three collected Zuckerman novels, "''Zuckerman Bound'' merits something reasonably close to the highest level of esthetic praise for tragicomedy." In 2018, ''The Ghost Writer'' was listed as one of Roth's seven essential books.

Awards

The Pulitzer committee for fiction selected ''The Ghost Writer'' for the prize in 1980. The Pulitzer board, which has final say over awarding the prize, overrode their decision and chose Norman Mailer's ''

The Executioner's Song ''The Executioner's Song'' (1979) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning true crime novel by Norman Mailer that depicts the events related to the execution of Gary Gilmore for murder by the state of Utah. The title of the book may be a play on "The Lord Hi ...

'' instead. The book was also a finalist for the 1980

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

''Exit Ghost''

In 2007, Roth published the novel ''

Exit Ghost ''Exit Ghost'' is a 2007 novel by Philip Roth. It is the ninth, and last, novel featuring Nathan Zuckerman. Plot summary The plot centers on Zuckerman's return home to New York after eleven years in New England. The purpose of Zuckerman's journey, ...

'', which

Michiko Kakutani Michiko Kakutani (born January 9, 1955) is an American writer and retired literary critic, best known for reviewing books for ''The New York Times'' from 1983 to 2017. In that role, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1998. Early life ...

in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' called "elegiac" and "a kind of valedictory bookend to ''The Ghost Writer''."

External links

*
''The Ghost Writer'' on BFI

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghost Writer 1979 American novels Novels by Philip Roth Books about Anne Frank Novels about writers American novels adapted into films Farrar, Straus and Giroux books Ghostwriting in fiction