Portnoy’s Complaint (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Philip Roth
- First Published: 1969
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Bildungsroman
- Time of Work: The 1930’s to the 1960’s
- Setting: Newark, New Jersey
- Genres: Long fiction, Bildungsroman
- Subjects: 1950’s, 1960’s, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Sex or sexuality, 1940’s, Guilt, 1930’s, Obsession, New Jersey, Jews and Gentiles, Psychoanalysis or psychoanalysts, Bar Mitzvahs
- Locales: Manhattan, NY, Europe, Newark, NJ, Israel
Characters Discussed
Alexander Portnoy, a Jewish man from Newark, New Jersey, who has “made good” as a bright college student and has become assistant commissioner for human opportunities in New York City. Throughout his life, however, he has been afflicted by a domineering mother, an intolerable sense of guilt, and an urgent sex drive. Intelligent and witty, he struggles to become free but succeeds mostly in engaging his family, his lovers, and himself in situations characterized by mutual vilification and sadomasochism that exacerbate rather than ameliorate his condition....
[The entire page is 1077 words long]
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