ABSTRACT
This chapter revisits the terrain of the ‘Art’ paper in On the Beginning of Social Inquiry. It explores a case where a critic argues that the noted novelist, Philip Roth, produced a work that, according to her, was not worthy of him. I suggest that her argument revolves around whether and how it is appropriate to mine real-life material for art. I argue that, with an alternative understanding to this critic as to the possible role of such material in the creation of art, Roth’s novel can be seen as not, in the end, a failure. Some general observations are derived from this specific case to the effect that one of the powers of art is to enable what I call its ability to help us visualize events.
