Reading Myself and Others

Infobox Book
name = Reading Myself and Others


image_caption = "Reading Myself and Others" first edition cover
author = Philip Roth
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language = English
series =
subject = Literature, writing
genre = Non-fiction anthology
publisher = Farrar, Straus and Giroux
pub_date = January 1, 1975
media_type = Print
pages = 270 pp (1st ed.)
isbn =
oclc =
preceded_by =
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"Reading Myself and Others" (1975) is an anthology of essays, interviews and criticism by the author Philip Roth. The first half of the book is built mainly upon Roth's assessment of his own published works at the time of the anthology's publication. The second half of the volume consists of essays and introductions by Roth about other authors. Many of the essays were occasioned by the abrupt fame and scrutiny which came to Roth upon the publication of his controversial fourth novel, "Portnoy's Complaint" (1969). In the "Author's Note", Roth writes that the selections in the book "are largely the by-products of getting started as a novelist, and then of taking stock."

"Reading Myself" includes interviews of Roth conducted by other authors as well as several essays in which Roth attempts to answer some of the critics of his early works. Among the interviews, one was conducted by the author Joyce Carol Oates about Roth's novel "The Breast" (1972). Appropriate to the book's title, Roth even conducts a self-interview about the origins and intentions of his work. "Reading Myself" also includes a letter that Roth wrote, but never sent, to the literary critic Diana Trilling in response to her dismissive review of "Portnoy's Complaint".