Confronting the “C” Word: Cancer and Death in Philip Roth's Fiction

The Fantasy of Youth in Philip Roth's Later Novels

“…In her study concerning some of Roth's later novels as illness narratives, specifically cancer narratives, Aimee Pozorski (2015) tackles the issue of women's cancers as a major emerging theme in contemporary American culture. Besides Consuela Castillo, who was diagnosed before the age of 32, Amy Bellette, of Exit Ghost, stands out as a character that is recalled from an earlier era in order to create a connection over time between the vibrant presence of | 149 | herself as Lonoff's supposed mistress and her much older persona, defeated by one final, terminal tumor: "Like The Dying Animal, Roth's Exit Ghost connects the narrative arc of a once vibrant girl with death and old age through the figure of cancer.…”