European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 26, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Roth honest about dangers of deception Hillel Italie Philip Roth held up a copy of deception his newest novel. T what do people do with this he \.asked. This thing Falls into some body s Lap and they do something with it. They take it Over. They can hit somebody Over the head with it. They can be utterly indifferent  every Reading is a mystery. There s misread Ings  the  goodbye Columbus port Noy s complaint and the county life was seated at the new York offices of his publisher his intense stare softened by glasses and a Blue Tweed jacket. He feels he s been subjected to Many misunderstandings in the past. For instance he can never forget what happened in 1962, two years after goodbye col Umbus won the National Book award for fic Tion when the author was a panellist for a seminar at Yeshiva University in new York on the crisis of conscience in minority writers of  in his 1988 autobiography the facts Roth recalled being asked by the Moderator if he would write the same stories if he were living in a i Germany. The author went on to describe the scene As he attempted to leave i listened to the final verdict against me As harsh a judgment As i Ever Hope to hear in this or any other world. I Only began to shout Clear away step Back i m getting out of Here after somebody shaking a fist in my face began to holler you were brought up on anti semitic literature yes i hollered Back and what is that curious really to know what he meant. English literature he cried. English literature is anti semitic literature " for Roth every Reader offers a different interpretation counter readings you might Call them reactions to the writer s reactions. And the author can t resist some counter writing selectively leak ing information with the skill of a senior White House official. For instance you can Tell deception is fic Tion because there s no table of contents in front no bibliography in the Back and no footnotes on Ste Bottom. F but Why docs Roth a famous jewish author Jar Rich to English actress Claire Bloom write / about a famous jewish author married to an English actress and Why is this famous jewish author having an affair and arguing with his wife about writing a Book about it you say to me Well did any of this Hap pen and i say Well everything happened now ask me the next question Roth said. Deception virtually All dialogue is a Book about talking and listening Roth said the rav ing cartoonish jews of goodbye Columbus and Portnoy s complaint the kind of charac ters that so enraged his audience at Yeshiva University arc gone. The wild humor offered from the psychiatrist s Couch in Portnoy s complaint has been softened into whispered insights offered in bed and by Coffee tables. Still Roth takes a further step into controversy. He s written several books about a jewish author called Nathan Zuckerman their lives linked so closely that Zuckerman ends up writing about Roth in the final pages of the  but in deception Roth drops that thin line of Protection. Zuckerman is mentioned Only in passing the famous jewish writer in this novel is called  "1 did think about using Nathan but mischief led me to put my own name into it. You Sec what happens Roth said. If you drop your own name then you change the Ante on adultery Roth once said of his Early years that he had no intention of becoming controversial and in the beginning had no idea that my stories would Phillip Roth s not afraid of controversy. Prove repugnant to Ordinary  he does t feel that Way now. He predicts that hell eventually be brought to court for something he s written and includes a mock trial in deception in which the author is put on the stand by angry feminists. But he does t mind. He said controversy is part of the Gamble of writing. To Roth All books Are eventually about talking and listening conversations Between readers and writers dialogues always in danger of spinning out of control. And that is a danger he enjoys. Associated press. The Book is available at stars and stripes bookstores reviews Joseph the Golden Orange by Joseph Wambach William Morrow 317 pp., $19.95 few souls in the universe have witnessed an Earthie Seamer More disillusioning picture of life than alcoholic sex cops. In Joseph Wambaugh s latest novel the somewhat tarnished hero Winnie Farlowe shares some of the sights and insights he has seen and gleaned while working As a policeman in Southern California. This gives us some idea Why he is no longer a cop but still an alcoholic. Farlowe s descriptions of California Are Worth the Price of admission. But what makes the Book a real Success is How cleverly and How Well Wambaugh blends a love affair that May or May not have been a love affair with two murders that May or May not have been murders. They serve As a great contrast to Farlowe s straight Forward simplicity. The novel As Well As being a realistic modern Day mystery is a very funny Book. It is not As dark and gut wrenching As some of Wambaugh s other works but its lightness of social satire does not diminish its Well crafted and serious moral judgments. Kinky Friedman new York times Coyote Waits by Tony Hillerman Harper and Row 292 pp., $19.95  Navajo world is one of order and balance if something becomes unt racked or off Center the navajos Call a shaman to perform a ritual and restore Harmony. The forces that push the Navajo world Askew Are sometimes attributed to the mythical Coyote a creature that Young people learn from childhood stories can be playful but adults discover can also be enemy of order. Tony Hillerman in what May be his Best Effort yet uses the mythology of Coyote As a metaphor to show what happens when greed and ambition Are thrown together with the old reservation ways. Hillerman s familiar detectives it. Joe leap Horn who dreams of retiring and Young romantic officer Jim Che Are Back again. Hillerman docs a Superb Job of weaving their tracks together As both investigate the murder of a Navajo policeman and the arrest of an elderly shaman. It is a masterful rms Iery by an author who keeps getting better. Brad Smith t ailed press International journey by Indira Ganesan Alfred , 175pp., $18.95 alter ears in the United Stales where she was a i Mistr professor a widowed Mother returns to her family Home on a fictional Island off the coast of India with her Are her two daughters one a College student the other in High school. Out of this return and the different things it Means to each comes Indira Ganesan s first novel that is something better than delicate and something better than Wise. There is a Fine Chisling in the portraits of the characters but it is a carving that has been hardened by fire. And there is Wisdom in what each goes through to resolve problems. Ganesan born in India and educated in the United states is writing about what formed her. In this Case it is two worlds and the strife that rises when one person tries to live in both. In doing so Ganesan writes with a Lovely balance not common to first novels. Richard  i us Angeles times a1 j Page 8 sunday