HERE WE ARE
My Friendship With Philip Roth
by Benjamin Taylor
A writer chronicles his long, intimate friendship with novelist Philip Roth (1933-2018). Roth was already considered one of America’s most esteemed living novelists (two National Book Awards, among other honors) when Taylor, a founding faculty member of the New School’s Graduate School of Writing, became acquainted with him in the mid-1990s. Roth’s past had also been marked by two miserable marriages, scores of past lovers, and increasingly debilitating health concerns. He was irascible and mercurial yet always candid and authentic, and in this slim, affectionate memoir, Taylor perfectly captures the essence of Roth’s charmingly enigmatic humor and complex behavior. He generously shares memories of their somewhat unexpected friendship, honing in on their quiet, often amusing moments together—e.g., Taylor convincing a reluctant Roth to sit through the classic Bette Davis chestnut Now Voyager despite Roth’s more highbrow film interests. “In keeping with the unseemliness of my profession (as he would say) I’d been taking notes all along,” writes Taylor. “A lot of conversation got squirreled away.” The author liberally quotes Roth throughout, yet some passages seem to be derived from Roth’s novels (a notes section would be helpful). Taylor was there for Roth throughout his declining years, and he poignantly reflects on this experience and what their friendship has meant to them both. “I can’t be the first gay man to have been an older straight man’s mainstay,” he writes. “Philip had searched diligently for a beautiful young woman to see to him as Jane Eyre looked after old Mr. Rochester. What he got instead was me. The degree of attachment surprised us both. Were we lovers? Obviously not. Were we in love? Not exactly. Sufficient to say that ours was a conversation neither could have done without.”
A touching and entertaining portrait of Roth that is sure to delight his many readers.