Paradise Remembered and Paradise Lost in the Novels of Philip Roth and Allegra Goodman

In 1997 and 1998 saw the publication of two widely acclaimed novels on contrasting facets of the Jewish American experience: Philip Roth’s Pulitzer Prize-winning American Pastoral and Allegra Goodman’s National Book Award finalist debut novel, Kaaterskill Falls. These two books present sharp critiques of individualism as a shaping influence over an increasingly isolated Jewish American community as well as a mutual interest in the mythical geography of the rural northeast.