A Rant About Philip Roth

My ex-gf posted a facebook survey about books and she said that Philip Roth "focuses too much on being Jewish" and that being Jewish "isn't much of a big deal." She also insulted Roth, as many do, of being a misogynist.

So I, in my passive aggressive bitchy-ness, wrote her this response (which I obviously won't send directly to her because I'm a vagine) since she insulted one of my favorite writers.

"WHAT THE FUCK. Allow me to delineate the myriad ways in which you convey severe mental retardation. Firstly, what book have you read other than The Plot Against America, which a) sucks and b) features no prominent female characters. And not all of his books even focus on Jews. Secondly, saying that Philip Roth shouldn't write so much about Jewish identity is like saying Thomas can't write about Germans or that Toni Morrison can't write about black people. Furthermore, you dismiss nearly every other Jewish writer, since so many of them focus on (guess what?) THEIR IDENTITY AS JEWS. Thirdly, you cannot use Roth's misogynistic tendencies to discount his oeuvre (Faulkner, anyone? Shit, he hates women AND black people). Roth's misogyny in no decreases the importance of his work. Moreover, if you were to discount every writer or work with misogynistic tendencies, your reading list would be quite narrow. (Hell, your beloved Jane Austen relies on misogynistic stock types for her female characters, with Elizabeth Bennet the only possible exception. Maybe). Fourthly, I don't believe that you are in any position to pass judgment on the importance of Jewish identity. I'm offended, in fact, that you believe yourself in a position to do so, since you hardly identify as a Jew (I don't think you've ever been to shul, you didn't have a Bat Mitzvah or have a Hebrew name, you don't say "brisket," and your views on Israel are under-developed nor is "I just want all Jews to be safe" a real opinion.)"