Philip Roth's Pre-Science Fiction Endeavors

Sunday's NYT Arts & Leisure section puts Philip Roth on the cover in recognition of his double-barreled entry into one of the most substantial guideposts to our nation's canon, the Library of America. The first volume combines Goodbye, Columbus and Letting Go, while the second volume runs from When She Was Good through Portnoy's Complaint to Our Gang and The Breast--a lineup that's led Jonathan Yardley to suggest already that the comprehensive inclusiveness of this projected eight-volume series is "nuts."