Political Initiation in the Novels of Philip Roth

Political science and literary criticism share an interest in stages of transition, transformation and transgression. Although not yet explored by political science, initiation has to be regarded as an archetypical example of a transitory phase which marks an adolescent's discovery of evil, his end of innocence or his discovery of his inner self. In U.S. literature, this experience is the focal point of novels dealing with adolescent protagonists, wherefore a sub-genre of its own has been named thereafter, the initiation novel.

Political science often talks of initiation when describing an event or an experience which leads to an individual's political awakening, i.e. which heightens his political consciousness and turns him into a political being. Initiation can thus be regarded as a marking point in his political socialization, a process which denominates a person's learning of his political role in a society.

Philip Roth's novels might not have been labelled initiation novels and he might not be regarded as a predominantly political writer strictu sensu. His protagonists, however, frequently undergo processes that open their eyes for a less idyllic reality, they have to come to terms with the being they truly are, or have to learn to defend their own viewpoints. In other words, they undergo processes of initiation. Moreover, in certain novels Roth's characters get acquainted with political ideas and religious convictions, often under the guidance of mentors whose rhetorical power or charisma has a substantial impact on them.

The different aspects mentioned above demand a thorough analysis both from a literary as well as a political angle: literary, since initiation is one of the major topics in literary criticism which often deals with transgressions of rules, be they societal or textual. Political, because political science possesses greater analytical strength in depicting phenomena of power, both rhetorical and ideological. However, when dealing with the ideas and the political awakening of fictional characters, literary criticism will frequently have to remind the political scientist that he is not dealing with empirical reality, but with an autonomous work of art which might bend to the factitious side at times, but which remains, after all, a work of fiction.