Published 2000 / Length 361 pages
Coleman Silk, an ageing, well-respected Classics professor at a New England university, is the protagonist of The Human Stain; an accusation of racism, leading to his catastrophic fall from grace, sets in motion the novel’s compelling and implacable narrative. Brimming over with rage at the senselessness of the charge, the disloyalty of friends and the fatal consequences the scandal has for his wife, Silk resigns his post. In the vacuum that ensues, he stumbles into the life of his reclusive neighbour, Nathan Zuckerman, and demands that Zuckerman, a writer, commit Silk’s story to paper. The tale takes an unexpected turn when Silk embarks on a relationship with a local dairy worker, Faunia Farley, whom life has treated with equal disdain. Aided by Viagra, Silk’s world is energized by their partnership. However, Farley’s deranged Vietnam vet ex-husband, Les, a man consumed by a fury fuelled by witnessing the horrors of war, struggles to deal with his former wife’s affair and life outside the army.
Set against the backdrop of Bill Clinton’s impeachment for his Oval Office misdeameanours that to some extent is echoed by Silk’s own public humiliation, The Human Stain is an aggressive, sensual, richly powerful and unapologetic novel. It explores the complexities of secrecy and family history (for Silk has several secrets of his own), questions of identity and self-presentation, and the danger and hypocrisy of moral rectitude.
‘A stunning, complex novel of snarling rage, passion, sarcasm, scorching humour and extraordinary beauty.’ – The Observer
• Some readers consider The Human Stain to be a ‘masculine’ novel, both in its subject material as well as stylistically. Do you agree?
• Roth’s portrayal of Silk, Les Farley and Faunia Farley is at times brutal, and rarely unambiguous, but still our sympathies shift. At the close of the novel, with whom do you sympathize, and why?
• In what way is Roth’s claim of America’s ‘ecstasy of sanctimony’ a driving factor of the book?
• What is ‘the human stain’ of the title, and how does the novel suggest its existence?
• The Human Stain is the last novel in a loosely connected trilogy (see SUGGESTED COMPANION BOOKS), the main unifying element being the character of Nathan Zuckerman, who, it has been claimed, is Roth’s alter ego.
• Published to great critical acclaim, the novel won both the PEN/Faulkner Award in the US and the Prix Médicis Étranger in France.
• In 2003, The Human Stain was made into a feature film. Silk was played by Anthony Hopkins, Faunia Farley by Nicole Kidman, Les Farley by Ed Harris and Zuckerman by Gary Sinise.
• American Pastoral (1997) and I Married a Communist (1998) by PHILIP ROTH – the first two books of the ‘trilogy’ that is concluded by The Human Stain.
• Disgrace by J. M. COETZEE – also tells the story of a shamed and discredited college professor.