The Facts: A Novelist's Autobiography and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle . Learn more


or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
or
Amazon Prime free trial required. Sign up when you check out. Learn more
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
or
Get a £0.25 Amazon.co.uk Gift Card
The Facts: A Novelist's Autobiography
 
 
Start reading The Facts: A Novelist's Autobiography on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

The Facts: A Novelist's Autobiography [Paperback]

Philip Roth

RRP: £8.99
Price: £6.74 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £2.25 (25%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.
Only 1 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).
Want guaranteed delivery by Thursday, June 7? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition £6.40  
Hardcover --  
Paperback £6.74  
Audio, CD, Audiobook £10.20  
Audio Download, Unabridged £9.44 or Free with Audible.co.uk 30-day free trial
Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in The Facts: A Novelist's Autobiography for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.

Frequently Bought Together

The Facts: A Novelist's Autobiography + Patrimony: A True Story + Operation Shylock: A Confession
Price For All Three: £19.87

Show availability and delivery details

Buy the selected items together

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought


Product details


More About the Author

Philip Roth
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.

Visit Amazon's Philip Roth Page

Product Description

Book Description

The unconventional autobiography of a writer who has reshaped our idea of fiction.

Product Description

The Facts is a work of compelling candour and inventiveness, instructive particularly in its revelation of the interplay between life and art.

Philip Roth concentrates on five episodes from this life: his secure city childhood in the thirties and forties; his education in American life at a conventional college in the fifties; his passionate entanglement, as an ambitious young man, with the angriest person he ever met (the 'girl of my dreams' Roth calls her); his clash, as a fledgling writer, with a Jewish establishment outraged by Goodbye, Columbus; and his discovery, in the excesses of the sixties, of an unmined side to his talent that led him to write Portnoy's Complaint.

The book concludes surprisingly - in true Rothian fashion - with a sustained assault by the novelist against his proficiencies as an autobiographer.


Inside This Book (Learn More)
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Customer Reviews

There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.co.uk.
5 star
4 star
3 star
2 star
1 star
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:  10 reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
An Autobiography Unlike Any Other 13 Jan 2001
By R. W. Rasband - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
In this short, fascinating book Roth narrates the story of his life up to the publication of "Portnoy's Complaint." Then, in a long epilogue, Nathan Zuckerman (Roth's fictional alter-ego) critiques Roth's account, pointing out omissions and biases and attacking the "public relations tone" of the manuscript. If you have ever felt the sting of your outraged conscience, or laughed at how you trip over your own feet intellectually, Roth is the author for you.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Not Just The Facts 19 April 2001
By Jason Baer - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Leave it to Phillip Roth to take a traditional autobiography and turn it on its ear. The book begins with a brief letter from Roth to his fictional character Zuckerman, explaining that he (Roth) has written a brief autobiography and wanted to get Zuckerman's input. Then comes the autobiography, a concise version of Roth's history focusing primarily upon his childhood, his college years, and his marriage to a woman who he later describes as his "nemesis." Finally the book ends with Zuckerman's comments on Roth's text. Just the thought of it is enough to make you laugh, but there is value in this approach. Roth clearly feels uneasy discussing himself, and so the fictional character allows him to break down his own personality without appearing overly self-indulgent. This final Zuckerman section is very insightful and alleviated my doubts that perhaps Phillip Roth does not understand himself as well as he would like to think.

'The Facts' is a quick read and goes a long way in illustrating how a nice Jewish boy from a good family in the suburbs of New Jersey could find enough angst in his life to eventually line his desk with a Pulitzer Prize, two PEN/Faulkner Awards, and a National Book Award. I would recommend it to anyone who has enjoyed anything by this master of the literary realm. (If you haven't yet read any of his novels, try Portnoy's Complaint, American Pastoral, or Goodbye Columbus... but you really can't go wrong, everything he's written is terrific.)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
A good book, but only of interest to those familiar with his work 9 Oct 2006
By Crag Talent - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Philip Roth is undoubtably one of the 20th centuries best authors. He is also a fairly interesting figure and much of his best work is highly autobiographical...

as such, it is inevitable that people are interested in the "truth" of his life and what really happened. Roth obliges here, mostly, giving us an account of his life (only up until the publication of Portnoy's Complaint though) that seems quite true, but written in a way that feels novelistic and as if Roth was writing in the voice of another character. Then he bookends the autobiography with his fictional counter part, Zuckerman, commenting on the text and pondering the nature of truth, autobiography, etc.

This is a good book, but at then end of the day its not interesting to anyone who hasn't read the Zuckerman books, Portnoy's Complaint and his other autobiographical books. Its nice to get an account of what he drew on exactly, but only if you've read those books.

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums


Listmania!


Look for similar items by category


Look for similar items by subject


Feedback


Amazon.co.uk Privacy Statement Amazon.co.uk Delivery Information Amazon.co.uk Returns & Exchanges