The Human Stain Here

Coleman Silk, a 71-year-old classics professor and former dean at Athena College, is accused of racism after using the word "spooks" to describe two students who never showed up to class.

Philip Roth's (2000) is the concluding volume of his acclaimed "American Trilogy," preceded by American Pastoral and I Married a Communist . It is a dense, "genuinely great" novel that explores the fragility of identity and the "ecstasy of sanctimony" in 1990s America. 1. The Core Premise The Human Stain

The charge is ironic because Coleman has spent 50 years "passing" as a white Jewish man, while he is actually a light-skinned African American from New Jersey. Coleman Silk, a 71-year-old classics professor and former

The story is set in 1998, against the backdrop of the impeachment scandal. Rather than reveal his secret to clear his

Rather than reveal his secret to clear his name, Coleman resigns in fury. He begins a scandalous affair with Faunia Farley , a 34-year-old janitor at the college who has her own traumatic past involving her abusive ex-husband, Les. The Human Stain by Philip Roth | Excerpt