Thus "Newsweek" hailed the appearance of "Goodbye, Columbus". Soon afterward, the National Book Award for Fiction seconded this judgement. On the surface, the novella and five stories that comprise this extraordinary work deal with the intermingted comedy and tragedy, hilarity and heartbreak of modern Jewish-American life; on a more profound level, their wit, insight and truth strike a universal nerve of recognation.

Whether dissecting a passionate, youthful love affair or the devided loyalties of a Jewish top sergeant; whether portraying the desperate alienation of a middle-aged man or the wild flights of a weirdly imaginative young boy, Philip Roth demonstrates the amazing talents that have made him one of the foremost writers of his generation - and this, his first great succes, a classic of our time.