146 Materiality and the Modern Cosmopolitan Novel
vaguely defined philosophy of the inherent obscurity of the human
subject:
What underlies the anarchy of the train of events, the uncertainties, the
mishaps, the disunity, the shocking irregularities that define human
affairs? Nobody knows[... .] You can’t know anything. The things you
know you don’t know[... .] All that we don’t know is astonishing. Even
more astonishing is what passes for knowing. (pp. 178–179)The ambiguous regard in which Zuckerman (and Roth) holds the
individual dovetails with the epistemic openness that cosmopolitan
theor y demands. This is a sentiment echoed by Posnock, who argues
that the “incomplete” quality of Zuckerman’s narrative allows Roth
to persevere with his cosmopolitan project of “deflating mastery”
and forestalling any attempts to consign the category of human exis-
tence to a transparent body of data that can be easily deciphered
according to a predetermined system of social codes.^44
However, as is argued in the later portion of the analysis, Roth
does not entirely dispense with the category of determinacy when
explaining human behavior in The Human Stain. Nor does he dis-
regard the functions of causality in accounting for the relationship
between materiality and the progression of social experience. Indeed,
perhaps what is most interesting and attractive about Roth’s work—
and this is particularly relevant to the American Trilogy—is the
manner in which he crafts narratives only in such a way as to ten-
tatively suggest cause and effect between (socio-historical-material)
determinants and corresponding (behavioral and identity-forming)
results. This suggestion should not be considered an apathetic f light
from political commitment as it does allow that material and social
factors have an important role to play in influencing behavior—we
observe, for instance, that the bitterness and disdain in Silk’s behav-
ior stem ultimately from sociopolitical circumstances. However,
Silk’s silences serve to deflect a straightforward explanation of the
singularity (in the sense alluded to above) and idiosyncrasies of his
unique character.
The succeeding portion of the discussion now turns to the impor-
tance of silence in what many consider to be the author’s master-
work, American Pastoral. In this novel, the lacunae and psychological