Portnoy’s Complaint (Magill’s Choice: American Ethnic Writers)
At a glance:
- Author: Philip Roth
- First Published: 1969
- 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
The Work
Philip Roth’s third novel, Portnoy’s Complaint, takes the form of an outrageous, comic rant by Alexander Portnoy to his psychoanalyst, whose help Portnoy seeks because he feels that his life has come to be a “Jewish joke.” Portnoy’s impassioned, self-absorbed monologues explore his childhood and his erotic relationships. He wishes to locate the source of his pain, composed of guilt, shame, desire, and emotional paralysis, and to free himself from his past. The best-selling novel shocked readers with its obscenity, graphic sexual descriptions, and...
[The entire page is 663 words long]
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