Roth, Henry (1906-1995), was an American author who became known for his novel Call It Sleep (1934). The book is considered perhaps the greatest novel about working-class Jewish immigrants in New York City in the early 1900’s.
Call It Sleep spans two years in the life of young David Schearl. Early reviewers of the book praised Roth for his realistic treatment of life in a Jewish slum and his intense, poetic style. But some critics disapproved of the book’s frank language, violence, preoccupation with sex, and merciless look at a troubled Jewish family. Both the novel and Roth dropped from public view for almost 25 years. The novel was reissued in 1960 and received unexpected praise. Critics, especially Jewish ones, recognized the artistic merit of Roth’s account of an important time in the United States’ multiethnic urban experience.
Roth was born on Feb. 8, 1906, in Ukraine. When he was 18 months old, his family immigrated to New York City. Roth’s short fiction and nonfiction were collected in the book Shifting Landscape (1987). Roth worked for many years on Mercy of a Rude Stream, an autobiographical novel that he planned as six volumes. The first two volumes—A Star Shines Over Mt. Morris Park and A Diving Rock on the Hudson—were published in 1994. Roth then died on Oct. 13, 1995. Two more volumes—From Bondage and Requiem for Harlem—were published in 1996 and 1998, respectively. Roth’s manuscript for the final two volumes was edited and published as the novel An American Type (2010).
