Among the examinations of Philip Roth’s work that followed his death, in May, were several that leveled a familiar charge at the author and his work: that of misogyny. Long known as a vivid chronicler of male sexual desire, Roth’s work, some argued, sidelined female characters, and conceived of them as simply objects of lust for Roth’s more rounded male protagonists. The writers Judith Thurman, Claudia Roth Pierpont and Lisa Halliday were all friends of Philip Roth’s, and all agree that to read Roth’s work as misogynistic is to misunderstand what Roth was after. “He wanted to know humanity and reflect it, not to change it or make it into a moral project,” Halliday says. They join David Remnick for a conversation about Roth’s relationship with women, on and off the page.

This segment features excerpts from Roth’s work, read for The New Yorker Radio Hour by Liev Schreiber. Special thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and the Wylie Agency.