November 13, 2007
Mr. Philip Roth
*50 M****s Rd.
Cornwall Bridge, CT ***54-1**5
RE: The way in which you choose to spend your life, and my own suggestions.
Mr. Roth,
Your banal prose and elementary gimmicks do nothing to endear yourself to me.
If, in the future, a thought flies into your head and you would like to put it down on paper,
I would first suggest that you hide or burn every Saul Bellow novel you've been petting to sleep
each night, get yourself a fistful of fresh adjectives, and wipe your nose. Far too much of
you gets onto the page, sir, and little of it is to your credit.
Many people are impressed because you wrote American Pastoral. I warn you that I am not so easily amused.
With a careful eye,
/s/
Vincent Saint-Simon