The postmodern dimension of Philip Roth’s novels

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the study of the features of the postmodern paradigm in Philip Roth’s novels. The aim of the article is to find out the correlation of the basic parameters of the postmodern concept with the genre-style and poetic-narrative specificity of F. Roth’s works. Historical and literary, cultural-historical, structural, narratological and intertextual methods are used for the research. The results of the research show that signs of postmodernism can be traced in most of Roth’s works, however, despite numerous experiments with reality and narrative, the best novels of the writer (e. g. The Human Stain) witness evolution to the «resurrection of the subject», the restoration of a full-fledged human character instead of the conceptualization of a split «I» and dehumanized person. Scientific novelty of the article lies in the fact that the concept of «epistemological uncertainty» and its components in the work of Ph. Roth are transformed: the idea of inability to reach the deep limits of human essence remains relevant, but acquires signs of existential inquiry.