Listen Up Philip follows Philip Roth’s Zuckerman persona and writings such as The Ghost Writer and Exit Ghost to some extent, with a voice-over reminiscent of a Woody Allen film. But the wistful regret of Alvie Singer in Annie Hall is replaced by tragic futility, regarding the course of author Philip Louis Friedman’s life and whatever was left of his mentor’s, Ike Zimmerman. Their monument is not love of girl friend, wife, or daughter, but the grudging respect of their talent by critics, agents publishers, and people who might have been loved ones but whose frailties and self-respect has been rubbed raw by Philip’s and Ike’s intense and intensely perceptive awareness of everyone’s vulnerabilities. As for their own, they can’t see them. That is implied by the display of the two writers’ dust jackets as the closing credits roll. Those alone are their legacy. Read More
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