Source: "The Fiction of Philip Roth: An Introduction," in The Fiction of Philip Roth, Haddonfield House, 1974, pp. 1-36.

In the following excerpt, McDaniel compares one of Roth's earlier works, "The Contest for Aaron Gold, " with a more recent piece, "I Always Wanted You to Admire My Fasting': Or, Looking at Kafka, " to demonstrate thematic and artistic consistencies in Roth's short fiction.

Perhaps the best introduction into Roth's fictional world is to be found in Roth's very early "The Contest for Aaron Gold" and his very recent '"I Always Wanted You to Admire My Fasting'; Or, Looking at Kafka." The former was published when Roth was only twenty-one years old, and the latter appeared in the American Review of May, 1973. The two stories serve as excellent parameters of Roth's artistry, suggesting not only the continuity of Roth's essential themes and hero types but also the subtle changes in...