Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2000. [Vol. 6.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 26)

Studies - Tibor Tóth: The Golden Cradle: Philip Roth's Revision of the Golden Bough Tradition

this stage of his search, could gain freedom through a detachment that can be achieved through other characters' fictional revisions bearing reference to other fictional definitions. But his speculations are essentially false, since this only means that he would like to gain authority over art created by others simply in exchange for being the subject of the other artists' fictional enterprise. The above logic was true in the case of Sarah Woodruff and is available to Zuckerman, at least to a certain extent, in Philip Roth's later novels. His understanding of the search for freedom constructs a fictional network which instead of depending on its creator, reduces its author to the statute of a subject that can logically be a determining factor only by accepting full authority of fictional creativity over adequately articulated artistic intentions. In his case this move means total surrender. Thus Tarnopol rarely speaks of himself the exception being if he is being seen or interpreted by some other. The result is predictable, Tarnopol can't even formulate a sound definition of his identity. 'My True Story' is a revision of the 'useful stories' over which Zuckerman has authority. Spielvogel's "Creativity," and Maureen's diary also deprive Tarnopol of authority over fictional revision of the 'real' although they are supposed to provide a better understanding of the conflicting fictions creating Tarnopol's character. Peter Tarnopol hopes that his accurate, definable identity can be created by means of writing detailed perspectives of his identity. He faces similar dilemmas when trying to define the sources of freedom through the creative act as son of 'A Jewish Father,' but no proper evidence can be reached regarding the origins of the artist's status. His sense of freedom is further disintegrated by his attempt to search for a literary father and offers another unquestionable proof of the fact that creative art is yet another aspect he cannot cope with. Since he has no real authority over art, his unfinished manuscript disintegrates that sense of manhood which he formerly believed would generate the desired plenitude, which he thinks, is freedom. By now the various abandoned drafts had gotten so shuffled together and interwoven, the pages so defaced with X's and arrows of a hundred different intensities of pen and pencil [...] what impressed one upon attempting to, penetrate that prose was not the imaginary 125