The Ghost WriterThe Ghost Writer introduces Nathan Zuckerman in the 1950s, a budding writer infatuated with the Great Books, discovering the contradictory claims of literature and experience while an overnight guest in the secluded New England farmhouse of his idol, E. I. Lonoff. At Lonoff's, Zuckerman meets Amy Bellette, a haunting young woman of indeterminate foreign background who turns out to be a former student of Lonoff's and who may also have been his mistress. Zuckerman, with his active, youthful imagination, wonders if she could be the paradigmatic victim of Nazi persecution. If she were, it might change his life. The first volume of the trilogy and epilogue "Zuckerman Bound," The Ghost Writer is about the tensions between literature and life, artistic truthfulness and conventional decency-- and about those implacable practitioners who live with the consequences of sacrificing one for the other. |
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Common terms and phrases
Abba Hillel Silver Abravanel achterhuis Andrea Anne Frank asked Auschwitz Babel Balfour Declaration beautiful began Bellette Belsen Benya Krik Betsy Boston boys chair charm course dead Dencombe desk diary dinner door E. I. Lonoff Essie everything explained face father feel fiction floor Ghost Writer girl going half hand happened heard Henry James hiding Hope hour imagine Jewish Jews Jimmy Durante judge kitchen knew letter listen look magazine Manny Margot morning mother Nathan NATHAN ZUCKERMAN never Newark night off's Otto Frank Philip Roth pretending Quahsay remember scrupulosity seemed sentences Sidney smiled snow stay Stockbridge talk tell There's thing thought told took trying turn waiting walk wanted Wapter watch week Westerbork wife woman wonderful word write York young Zuckerman
References to this book
Cultural Haunting: Ghosts and Ethnicity in Recent American Literature Kathleen Brogan No preview available - 1998 |
Metafiction: The Theory and Practice of Self-conscious Fiction Patricia Waugh No preview available - 1984 |