The Counterlife (1986) is a novel by the American author Philip Roth. It is the fourth full-length novel to feature the fictional novelist Nathan Zuckerman. When The Counterlife was published, Zuckerman had most recently appeared in a novella called The Prague Orgy, the epilogue to the omnibus volume Zuckerman Bound.
Plot summary
The novel is divided into five parts, each of which presents a variation on the same basic situation. Parts I and IV are independent of any other part in the novel, whereas Parts II, III, and V form a more or less continuous narrative.
Part I, "Basel," opens with what appears to be an excerpt from the diary of Jewish novelist Nathan Zuckerman. Nathan talks about his brother, Henry Zuckerman, a suburban dentist who had been having an affair with his assistant Wendy. Henry, however, has developed a serious heart condition, and the medicine has made him impotent. The only alternative to the medication is a potentially life-threatening operation. Henry, unwilling to surrender the possibility of sex, turns to his estranged brother for advice. Nathan tries to dissuade Henry from doing the operation, and tells him that he will eventually adjust, but Henry only becomes increasingly desperate with time.
At this point the narration shifts into the third person, revealing that this "diary entry" was in actuality the eulogy that Nathan had planned to give at Henry's funeral: the operation had killed him. Nathan decides not to give the eulogy, however, concluding that it would merely embarrass his brother's family. At the funeral, Henry's wife Carol delivers the eulogy instead, in which she attributes the operation to Henry's love for her. Nathan is skeptical of her sincerity and wonders how much she knew of her husband's multiple affairs. He also pities his brother, whom he characterizes as a man so desperate to escape his middle-class existence that he preferred death to its stifling stability.
Part II, "Judea," resets the narrative of the novel thus far: in this section, Henry has survived the operation to fix his heart condition and restore sexual function. Yet rather than resume his previous life, Henry has chosen to abscond to Israel and live in a West Bank settlement. Nathan is sent to Israel by Carol to persuade Henry to return to his family. In Israel, Nathan meets with a variety of Jews who share their diverse perspectives with him, including a crazed fan named Jimmy who accosts him at the Wailing Wall. Nathan then confronts Henry at his settlement, where Henry and the settlers castigate him for betraying his fellow Jews. Nathan meets the settlement's charismatic leader, who delivers a rabid soliloquy about the importance of settling Judea and Samaria. Nathan later confronts Henry and suggests that the settlement leader reminds him of their father, and this might account for part of his influence on Henry. Henry responds angrily that what really matters is not whether or not the leader is a father-figure, but who controls Judea. Unable to talk sense into Henry, Nathan is forced to return home without his brother.
Part III, "Aloft," continues the "counterlife" begun in Part II. Nathan is flying back to the United States when he again encounters Jimmy. Jimmy reveals that he has smuggled a gun and a grenade onto the plane. He intends to send a message about Jews no longer being beholden to their traumatic history, and asks Nathan to assist him. Shortly thereafter, security officials attack and arrest Jimmy and Nathan, whom they accuse of colluding with him. Nathan feels humiliated both by the interrogation and by the fact that the security officials have seemingly never heard of him.
Part IV, "Gloucestershire," represents the third discrete 'counterlife' in the novel. In this section, Nathan is the impotent brother with a heart condition. He and Henry have also remained estranged; Henry has never had an affair with Wendy. Nathan initially cooperates well with the medication, but he soon finds himself tempted by Maria, an English expatriate who lives upstairs with her daughter and diplomat husband. They begin to have an affair and Nathan considers having the operation. Maria urges him not to take such an enormous risk for her, but Nathan decides to do it anyway. He explains that it would allow him to fulfill his greatest desire—to settle down as a family man, by marrying Maria, adopting her daughter, and moving to the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, the operation fails and Nathan dies.