Philip Roth is among the world’s most highly regarded writers of contemporary fiction. He is also among the most controversial and Jewishly preoccupied. Steven J. Zipperstein is at the beginning of a biographical study of Roth’s life and work, having spent much of the past year in archival research and in conversation with some of Roth’s closest friends, as well as a cluster of his detractors. Zipperstein also draws on many conversations with Roth over the course of the last several years. He will share some preliminary insights in a talk designed as meditation on a project still in its infancy.