Arena Season 1, Episode 445

Philip Roth · BBC Four · Friday, March 19

To mark his 60th birthday, and the publication of his new book Operation Shylock, Philip Roth breaks his long silence and talks to Arena about his life, books, and some of the links between the two. Since his outrageous comic novel Portnoy's s Complaint appeared in the late 1960s, Roth's chronicles and comedies of Jewish America have established him as one of the most important writers of his generation. But success has brought hostile criticism and, until now, he has refused every request for a television interview, preferring to present himself in his books in the guise of fictional alter egos.