Zuckerman Bound is the name of a trilogy (three related novels) and an epilogue by the American author Philip Roth. The central character in all the works is the Jewish American writer Nathan Zuckerman. The trilogy consists of The Ghost Writer (1979), Zuckerman Unbound (1981), and The Anatomy Lesson (1983). All three novels were published with the short novel epilogue The Prague Orgy as Zuckerman Bound in 1985.
As in his other fiction, Roth explores Jewish American life in Zuckerman Bound. Critics have praised the books for their vivid and complex characters, their humor, and their penetrating view of political and cultural life in American society in the late 1900’s. Roth explores the relationship between life and art throughout the works. He also deals with such topics as sex and infidelity, aging, and disease. Many critics have claimed that the character of Nathan Zuckerman was inspired by Roth himself.
In The Ghost Writer, Zuckerman is an ambitious young writer in the 1950’s who visits the noted author E. I. Lonoff. Zuckerman sees Lonoff as a father figure and seeks Lonoff’s approval for a potentially controversial short story he has written. While visiting Lonoff, Zuckerman falls in love with a mysterious house guest, Amy Bellette, who reappears later in another Zuckerman story. In Zuckerman Unbound, Roth moves the action several years later. Zuckerman now is attempting to deal with the wealth and fame that came with the success of his novel. The Anatomy Lesson takes place in 1973 as Zuckerman enters middle age. The novel tells how Zuckerman tries to cope with the mysterious and disabling pain that has confined him to his New York City apartment. He also is reacting to a severely critical view of his writing by a noted literary critic. The Prague Orgy consists of entries from notebooks Zuckerman kept during a 1976 visit to Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic).
Nathan Zuckerman also appears in other Roth books, sometimes as the central character and sometimes as a supporting character. These books are The Counterlife (1986); the trilogy consisting of American Pastoral (1997), I Married a Communist (1998), and The Human Stain (2000); and Exit Ghost (2007). Roth also writes about Zuckerman in the memoir The Facts (1988).
