Everyman
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《新英格兰医药杂志》
In Everyman, Pulitzer Prize winner Philip Roth, one of America's foremost novelists, explores the dark side of aging — at least among men. Roth's protagonist does not want to go gentle into that good night. Rather, he too rages against his body's betrayals, not the least of which is his sexual apparatus. Old age, at least for Roth's character, an unnamed retired advertising executive, is simply a "massacre."
The book apparently has its origins in more than just the author's sense of his own aging and mortality. According to a recent New York Times profile of Roth, it was the death of his friend and mentor Saul Bellow that set him off. Roth came back from the gravesite and started writing this fine book.
The book describes an aging man's extremely bleak take on growing old. The title echoes the medieval morality play in which Death invites the allegorical character of Everyman to take a trip to visit God and offer an accounting of his life. Among his many friends, not one agrees to accompany Everyman on this journey. In the end it is only Good Deeds, to whom our hero has so far not paid much attention, who agrees to come along.
For his part, over the course of a long lifespan, Roth's character messes up three marriages and produces three children, two of whom hate him. Nor does his retirement work out very well. A talented amateur painter whose busy career did not leave him much time to indulge this hobby, the protagonist is suddenly found with empty days, weeks, months, and years that should allow him to paint to his heart's content. Instead the nameless protagonist develops a creative block and suffers from endless physical problems, most of which require surgical intervention.
What relevance do novels like Everyman have to daily clinical practice? Patients value empathy, and the vicissitudes of the physician's own life can contribute to the development of this quality. But this demands that we become "Everyman" (or "Everywoman"). It also means that most of us will probably not find the empathy our patients need. Great novels — and this is one of them — can help us to better understand our patients.
Despite all of my clinical experience, Everyman helped me to empathize with my older patients. As one who is now well into middle age, I can say that it would not hurt younger doctors to read this book. Through it, Roth teaches lessons that can help all physicians.
A. Mark Clarfield, M.D.
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Beer-sheva 84101, Israel
markclar@bgu.ac.il(By Philip Roth. 182 pp. B)
The book apparently has its origins in more than just the author's sense of his own aging and mortality. According to a recent New York Times profile of Roth, it was the death of his friend and mentor Saul Bellow that set him off. Roth came back from the gravesite and started writing this fine book.
The book describes an aging man's extremely bleak take on growing old. The title echoes the medieval morality play in which Death invites the allegorical character of Everyman to take a trip to visit God and offer an accounting of his life. Among his many friends, not one agrees to accompany Everyman on this journey. In the end it is only Good Deeds, to whom our hero has so far not paid much attention, who agrees to come along.
For his part, over the course of a long lifespan, Roth's character messes up three marriages and produces three children, two of whom hate him. Nor does his retirement work out very well. A talented amateur painter whose busy career did not leave him much time to indulge this hobby, the protagonist is suddenly found with empty days, weeks, months, and years that should allow him to paint to his heart's content. Instead the nameless protagonist develops a creative block and suffers from endless physical problems, most of which require surgical intervention.
What relevance do novels like Everyman have to daily clinical practice? Patients value empathy, and the vicissitudes of the physician's own life can contribute to the development of this quality. But this demands that we become "Everyman" (or "Everywoman"). It also means that most of us will probably not find the empathy our patients need. Great novels — and this is one of them — can help us to better understand our patients.
Despite all of my clinical experience, Everyman helped me to empathize with my older patients. As one who is now well into middle age, I can say that it would not hurt younger doctors to read this book. Through it, Roth teaches lessons that can help all physicians.
A. Mark Clarfield, M.D.
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Beer-sheva 84101, Israel
markclar@bgu.ac.il(By Philip Roth. 182 pp. B)