Henry Roth; Wrote Acclaimed Novel

Henry Roth, 89, who wrote the widely acclaimed novel “Call It Sleep” in 1934 and then fell into literary silence. The autobiographical novel described the pains of Jewish immigrant families on New York’s Lower East Side. Although it did not sell well when it was published, the book sold more than 1 million copies in 33 printings when it was published in paperback in 1964. It had the distinction of becoming the first paperback to be reviewed on the front page of the New York Times Book Review. Despite that success, Roth wrote little more for decades. In 1987, his collected writings--short stories, essays and political statements--were published as “Shifting Landscape,” and last year he published a novel, “A Star Shines Over Mt. Morris Park.” His striking literary muteness was noted in Tillie Olsen’s book “Silences,” on writers who cease to write. Roth supported himself as a teacher and tutor, a hospital attendant and a farmer. Born in Galicia in what is now Ukraine, Roth was brought to America at age 1 and later attended City College of New York. He had lived in New Mexico since 1968. On Friday in Albuquerque.