With the publication of
Goodbye, Columbus and Five Short Storiesin May 1959, twenty-six-year-old Philip Roth put himself on the literary map as an important writer of great social insight, a designation he has enlarged upon for more than five decades. Roth’s first major work gained admiring reviews from leading critics and won the National Book Award in 1960. The short novel
Goodbye, Columbus, which describes the failed attempt of Neil Klugman, a product of the Jewish working class of urban Newark, to enter the world of newly wealthy suburban Jews and win the “king’s daughter” Brenda Patimkin, has become an American classic.
On one level, Neil’s pursuit of Brenda—a beautiful and athletic Radcliffe undergraduate whose father owns Patimkin Kitchen and Bathroom Sinks—is an
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Citation: Chura, Patrick. "Goodbye, Columbus". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 November 2008; last revised 02 August 2010. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4913, accessed 23 November 2024.]
