‘Zuckerman Unbound’ (1981) Z, now famous for a randy best seller, finds himself besieged by strangers—and a stalker. At least he gets to bed an actress.
‘The Anatomy Lesson’ (1984) Now Z’s the one who’s flat on his back, though not alone. His orthopedic problems symptomize a dislocated soul. And he can’t write anymore.
‘The Prague Orgy’ (1985) Z gets outta Dodge—to communist Prague, in search of a trove of great, unpublished Yiddish stories. A writer’s life is really no fun there.
‘The Counterlife’ (1987) Z’s brother Henry dies, but Z brings him fictionally back to life and sends him to Israel. H finds more adventure than he did back in his dental office.
‘American Pastoral’ (1997) Now impotent after prostate surgery, Z re-creates the life of an old schoolmate, once the athlete-hero of Newark, whose daughter became a bomb-making radical.
‘I Married a Communist’ (1998) Z gets the real story of another old hero: a leftwing actor not only blacklisted, but the subject of an exposé by his ex-wife.
‘The Human Stain’ (2000) Z acquires another confidant: an academic undone by the P.C. police, and hiding a town-gown affair. That’s not his biggest secret.
‘Exit Ghost’ (2007) The end of the road. Z comes out of rural retreat and finds he’s no match for New York, or anything else.
