Promiscuous : Portnoy's complaint and our doomed pursuit of happiness / Bernard Avishai.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Avishai, Bernard.

Contributor:

Lebowitz, Brian E.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Roth, Philip. Portnoy's complaint.

Roth, Philip.

Satire, American--History and criticism.

Satire, American.

Jews in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (224 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Portnoy's complaint and our doomed pursuit of happiness

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, c2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The publication of Portnoy's Complaint in 1969 provoked instant, powerful reactions. It blasted Philip Roth into international fame, subjected him to unrelenting personal scrutiny and conjecture, and shocked legions of readers-some delighted, others appalled. Portnoy and other main characters became instant archetypes, and Roth himself became a touchstone for conflicting attitudes toward sexual liberation, Jewish power, political correctness, Freudian language, and bourgeois disgust. What about this book inspired Richard Lacayo of Time to describe it as "a literary instance of shock and awe," and the Modern Library to list it among the 100 best English-language novels of the twentieth century? Bernard Avishai offers a witty exploration of Roth's satiric masterpiece, based on the prolific novelist's own writings, teaching notes, and personal interviews. In addition to discussing the book's timing, rhetorical gambit, and sheer virtuousity, Avishai includes a chapter on the Jewish community's outrage over the book and how Roth survived it, and another on the author's scorching treatment of psychoanalysis. Avishai shows that Roth's irreverent novel left us questioning who, or what, was the object of the satire. Hilariously, it proved the serious ways we construct fictions about ourselves and others.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Prologue Teaching Notes

1. A Novel in the Form of a Confession The Enigma of Portnoy, Who Is Not Roth

2. Really Icky Portnoy as Satirist

3. "The Best Kind": Portnoy as the Object of Satire

4. Punch Line: Psychoanalysis as the Object of Satire

Conclusion You Are Not True

Notes

Acknowledgments

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613601094

9781280571497

1280571497

9780300178111

0300178115

OCLC:

793206893