Letting Go (novel)
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Letting Go (1962) is the first full-length novel written by Philip Roth and is set in the 1950's.
[edit] Plot summary
Gabe Wallach is a graduate student in literature at the University of Iowa and an ardent admirer of Henry James. Fearing that the intellectual demands of a life in literature might leave him cloistered, Gabe seeks solace in what he thinks of as "the world of feeling". Following the death of his mother at the opening of the novel, Gabe befriends his fellow graduate student Paul Herz.
[edit] Themes
Much of the tension in the novel comes from the conflict between the characters and the social constraints of the 1950s. Romantic relationships are most heavily scrutinized. Paul Herz and his wife Libby become estranged from their families due to the fact that one is Jewish and the other is Christian (religion reemerges as an issue towards the end of the novel).
Social class also plays a role, especially between Gabe and his girlfriend for much of the novel, Martha, who is a divorced mother of two struggling to make ends meet. Martha repeatedly fears that Gabe will leave her. Gabe, at one point, tells a fellow Univesity of Chicago faculty member that he should marry her, but he ultimately flees back to Martha.
Throughout the novel, the characters are confronted with the--sometimes thin--line separating sexual promiscuity from sanctity in the eyes of the predominant culture. Abortion, divorce, remarriage and adoption affect the lives and psyches of Roth's subjects as the plot unfolds.
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