What Do I Read Next?
Madame Bovary (1857), written by Gustave Flaubert, is the novel into which Kugelmass is projected. It tells the story of a young wife of a country doctor who longs for excitement in her monotonous rural life and embarks on several illicit affairs.
Philip Roth’s comic novel Portnoy’s Complaint (1969), also referenced in the story, is a continuous monologue narrated by its main character, Alexander Portnoy, to his psychoanalyst. It details his sexual frustrations and adventures while humorously exploring the Jewish American experience.
The Big Book of Jewish Humor (1981), edited by William Novack, is a compilation of Jewish and Jewish-inspired humor. Contributors include Woody Allen, Max Apple, Gary Epstein, Lenny Bruce, Joseph Heller, David Levine, Sam Levenson, G. B. Trudeau, Judith Viorst, S. Gross, Jules Feiffer, among others.
Allen’s three collections of humorous prose are compiled in The Complete Prose of Woody Allen (1991).
Jasper Fforde’s The Eyre Affair: A Novel (2002) is a comedic mystery about a criminal who kidnaps characters from English literature and demands ransom.
‘‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’’ (1939), by American humorist James Thurber, is his most famous story. It follows a middle-aged, middle-class man who escapes the monotony of his suburban life through fantasies of heroic adventure.
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