Philip Roth, "Femme Fatale," from The Ghost Writer


1. One of the central themes of this novel is the idea of "the ghost writer," the many practical and metaphorical ways an author absents him/herself from the world of family, friends, and community, or oppositely appears as a shadow presence in the work of literature or in the life of the culture. How does this section of The Ghost Writer explore and conjecture upon the title metaphor?

2. Among other issues, the "Femme Fatale" section of The Ghost Writer provides insight into what makes a written work "important" in its time. What commentary, specifically, does "Femme Fatale" make about how external factors determine the way a work of art is received and judged by its audience?

3. One of the most striking characteristics of the "Femme Fatale" section of The Ghost Writer is the alternate version of history--Anne Frank's history, specifically--that its narrator, Nathan Zuckerman, offers. How does this alternate imagining of history inform or alter the reader's perception of what we believe to be "real," unimagined history? What commentary is being made regarding the response of late-twentieth-century Americans to World War II, the Holocaust, and the role of Judaism in the national culture?