NYC Book Launch: Philip Roth: Stung by Life by Steven J. Zipperstein
Thursday, October 16, 2025 | 7:30 PM
92NY | In person + Online
Jewish historian Steven J. Zipperstein and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Joshua Cohen discuss the life and towering ambition of Philip Roth — and Zipperstein’s new landmark biography, Philip Roth: Stung By Life.
Capturing one of America’s most celebrated writers in all his philosophical, moral and literary complexity, Steven J. Zipperstein’s new biography of Philip Roth is “a work of literature itself” (Judith Thurman). Tracing Roth’s life from his childhood in Newark, New Jersey to his days rubbing shoulders with the Kennedys and engaging in a spate of famous and infamous romances, Zipperstein explores the unprecedented range of Roth’s work — from “Goodbye, Columbus” and Portnoy’s Complaint to the Pulitzer Prize-winning American Pastoral and The Plot Against America.
In celebration of the book’s launch, hear Zipperstein and Cohen discuss this major new account of Roth, drawing upon Zipperstein’s tireless archival research and over one hundred interviews, including conversations with Roth himself — revealing Roth in the context of his obsessions, American Jewishness, sexuality and freedom.
“Literary biography at its best.” — Sean Wilentz
Purchase Philip Roth: Stung by Life in advance of the book launch.
Save 25% for a limited time only. Use code PHILIPROTH at checkout.
By Steven J. Zipperstein
Published October 14, 2025
368 pages
“A work of literature itself” —Judith Thurman, author of Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller
A landmark biography of one of our most prominent chroniclers of American life
In this groundbreaking literary biography, Steven J. Zipperstein captures the complex life and astonishing work of Philip Roth (1933–2018), one of America’s most celebrated writers. Born in Newark, New Jersey—where his short stories and books were often set—Roth wrote with ambition and awareness of what was required to produce great literature. No writer was more dedicated to his craft, even as he was rubbing shoulders with the Kennedys and engaging in a spate of famous and infamous romances. And yet, as much as Roth wrote about sex and self, he viewed himself as socially withdrawn, living much like an “unchaste monk” (his words).
Zipperstein explores the unprecedented range of Roth’s work—from “Goodbye, Columbus” and Portnoy’s Complaint to the Pulitzer Prize–winning American Pastoral and The Plot Against America. Drawing on extensive archival materials and over one hundred interviews, including conversations with Roth about his life and work, Zipperstein provides an intimate and insightful look at one of the twentieth century’s most influential writers, placing his work in the context of his obsessions, as well as American Jewishness, freedom, and sexuality.
