“What Philip Roth Didn’t Know About Women Could Fill a Book” by Dara Horn: Shouldn’t she blame Roth’s alter egos for the misogyny of his stories?

After Roth’s recent death, this is the best essay I’ve read about the notorious misogyny of his stories, since Dara Horn, a novelist herself, is from the actual locations in which Roth’s misogynistic stories are set, and she knows for a fact that the women there are admirable.

I am in no position to debate the misogyny of Roth’s stories, since I have read Roth only to the extent I needed to discuss his multiple personality. So for the sake of argument, I accept her premise that many of his writings are rife with misogyny.

But who is to blame for the misogyny in his stories? Who wrote them? Does Dara Horn deny that Roth wrote from the points of view of one or another of various alter egos? Does she know whether all of Roth’s other personalities endorsed the misogyny? Perhaps some were as critical of it as she is.

At book signings, when authors are asked if their novel is autobiographical, they are often quick to say it isn’t, that it does not necessarily represent their own traits, actions, and beliefs.

Dara Horn. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/25/opinion/sunday/philip-roth-jewish-women-new-jersey.html