SOURCE: Madden, David W. Review of Shop Talk, by Philip Roth. Review of Contemporary Fiction 22, no.1 (spring 2002): 151-52.

In the following review, Madden believes Shop Talk demonstrates Roth's position as a powerful and important voice in the world of contemporary literature.

In some ways Shop Talk is a misleading title, suggesting detailed discussions about the minutiae of fictional composition and inspiration. Instead, Roth discusses Kafka, Bruno Schulz, and Judaism, as well as politics and the media, as banes and inspirations for creativity. All ten profiles are reprinted from earlier sources, of which six are somewhat awkwardly assembled interviews. The first interview, with Primo Levi, is surprising for the contrast between Roth's exaggerations and Levi's rootedness in the commonsensical. After Roth has referred to Levi as a scientist for the third or fourth time, the Italian gently corrects him by calling himself a mere “technician” and concludes the talk...