Current Reading: The Counterlife

Since finishing Blake Bailey's epic biography of Philip Roth, I have been taking a deep dive into the man's books. Currently, I am reading The Counterlife. The morning I came across this memorable section. One note, Nathan Zuckerman is a stand-in for Philip Roth -- at least in some ways.

"If you're from New Jersey," Nathan had said, "and you write thirty books, and you win the Nobel Prize, and you live to be white-haired and ninety-five, it's highly unlikely but not impossible that after you death they'll decide to name a rest stop for you on the Jersey Turnpike. And so, long after you're gone, you may indeed be remembered, but mostly by small children, in the backs of cars, when they lean forward and tell their parents, 'Stop, please stop at Zuckerman -- I have to make a pee.' For a New Jersey novelist that's as much immortality as it's realistic to hope for" (kindle location 4101-4107).

One more word on this topic. There is no Philip Roth stop on the New Jersey Turnpike, but there is one dedicated to President Grover Cleveland. In case  you are curious, Cleveland was born in Caldwell, New Jersey, was the mayor of Buffalo, governor of New York, and President of the United States for two non-consecutive terrms. Perhaps this last item gives former President Trump some optimism for returning to the White House. More about Grover Cleveland can be found here.