Postmodern Plague Narrative: The Representation of the Polio Epidemic in Philip Roth's Nemesis
Postmodern Plague Narrative: The Representation of the Polio Epidemic in Philip Roth's Nemesis

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses Roth’s use of the theme of the polio epidemic in his novel Nemesis (2010). Initially, Nemesis seems to comply with the tradition of plague writing, in which the material reality of the disease is largely ignored and the disease itself becomes “a figurative way of speaking of other things” (Gilman 2009, 4). The epidemic exposes a hidden weakness in the main pro- tagonist, which is his inability to accept the imperfect world. One of the cen- tral themes in the novel becomes the problem of theodicy: the main protagonist is obsessed with the question of why God kills innocent children. The mythical and allegorical aspect of the narrative is reinforced by allusions to Oedipus and Job. However, a closer examination of the narrative mode employed by Roth reveals that the main concern of the text is typically postmodern: the story illus- trates the impossibility of arriving at the objective truth. That is why eventually Nemesis will not yield a coherent allegorical meaning.

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