PENMAN'S COMPLAINT

Philip Roth Quitting Fiction

Second-guesses his fortuitous writing career.

Well this is a blow the publishing industry doesn’t need. Philip Roth is apparently giving up fiction. The classic American author announced via a French publication that he’s simply over writing novels. “To tell you the truth, I’m done,” he said. “Nemesis will be my last book.” Roth indulged himself and his interviewer by explaining, “I wanted to see if I had wasted my time writing, and I thought it was rather successful. At the end of his life, the boxer Joe Louis said: ‘I did the best I could with what I had.’ This is exactly what I would say of my work: I did the best I could with what I had.” What’s next? Screenplays?