Identity Structure in the Kaleidoscopic Chronotope of American Society: The Double Consciousness of Coleman Silk in The Human Stain (2000)

This paper translates the U.S. environment in terms of chronotope, a literary theory introduced by Mikhail Bakhtin, to literary criticism by studying Philip Roth’s novel The Human Stain (2000). It discusses how spatial-temporal variants of American society intervene in the development of Roth’s characters, who mainly come from ethnic minorities. To do so, the double consciousness of characters is studied as a polyphonic reaction to the tensions emerging from social norms and meta-linguistic factors of American society. Examining the behavior of Roth’s characters in different chronotopic environments furnishes the context to explain the dialog existing between environment and people.