Roth in his red period
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What happens when one's faith in the modern istitutions of state and law fail? This is the political premise of Roth's early novel. In this short work we follow the decline of Andreas Pum, a holy fool of the modern age. Andreas a war veteran (having lost a leg) is given a beggars permit and set out into the streets to fend for himself. With a misplaced sense of nobility and absolute belief in the support of his country, he goes about this task with his head held high. At first things go well, but a chance encounter on a tram one day sets in motion a chain of events that ruin his life. It is not the material hurt or suffering that bite hardest, but the destruction of Pum's wold view. No longer can the state manifests itself as a just and moral arbitrator for him. Roth cleverly mirrors the loss of religious certainty with that of Pum's secular fall. The final passages of the book are beautiful and moving as they focus in on Pum's tragic response to the state's violent irrationality.
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