The Gripes of Roth: Letting Go

Started reading "Letting Go," one of the Philip Roth novels I haven't read, in the Library of America edition (if possible, I'll go back and re-read Goodbye, Columbus & 5 other stories when done with LG): it's interesting to see, in this, Roth's first novel, some of the themes emerge, even in the first 50 or so pages, that will be with him throughout his great career: son's caring relation with his father played off against his desire and need to break free, the Jewish intellectual guy's fascination with the "shiksa" bride and the tensions of mixed marriages. It's quite mature as a first novel - though not his first book - which may be because, though it's a university/grad-student novel, like so many first novels then (the 1950s) and now, grad students (Roth included) were older then - often completing military service. In LG, the narrator is, like many Roth characters, a guy living alone - in this case in grad school, English, Iowa - gets drawn into the mix of a difficult grad-student marriage - a type familiar to anyone who's gone to grad school of the slightly older student responsible for a spouse (and kids often - though not here) who can't really enjoy the bohemian/bou of grad life and is struggling to keep a family afloat through several jobs. Two other quick notes: how odd it is to find a novel so literary - could never be published today I'm afraid - epigraphs from Thomas Mann and Wallace Stevens and much of the first chapter involves discussion of Henry James and Portrait of a Lady - can you imagine any book like that published now? Also interesting to see what Roth themes did not emerge early in career - such as alienation, Jews, Newark - or at least haven't emerged yet.