Sex and Sexuality in Philip Roth's Kepesh
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When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full thesis title", University of Southampton, name of the University School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination http://eprints.soton.ac.uk UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON FACULTY OF HUMANITIES Beyond Imagining: Sex and Sexuality in Philip Roth’s Kepesh Novels by Mike Witcombe Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy March 2015 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON ABSTRACT FACULTY OF HUMANITIES Modern Languages Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy BEYOND IMAGINING: SEX AND SEXUALITY IN PHILIP ROTH’S KEPESH NOVELS Mike Witcombe This thesis examines three novels written by the Jewish-American author Philip Roth, collectively known as the Kepesh novels: The Breast (1972), The Professor of Desire (1977) and The Dying Animal (2001). Based on a desire to re-evaluate the critical position of these works within Roth’s oeuvre, this thesis offers an analysis of each novel based upon a critical methodology supplied by an examination of the role of fetishism in psychoanalytic theory. Fetishism, an ambiguous theory within psychoanalysis, has been adapted and deployed by a range of post-Freudian theorists for a number of purposes. Utilising fetishism as both a theme found in these novels and a methodology for their interpretation, this thesis attempts to form a new means of analysing these novels that pays heed to the different ways that they combine themes within the trilogy. With this diversity in mind, this thesis explores the reception of the Kepesh novels in periodicals and academic research, as well as using a range of theoretical strategies and comparative readings with other literary works. This supports and influences close readings of each text in turn. This thesis argues that these novels are dependent upon Roth’s subversive attitude towards the protagonists that narrate them. This is enabled by the variety of themes used by Roth in each text, but is most telling in his approach to describing debate and communication within each novel. This thesis incorporates and advocates for the playfulness that these novels demonstrate; they can thus be re-examined as works whose perspectives on sexuality are more nuanced than has previously been acknowledged. Table of Contents ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................ i Table of Contents ............................................................................................................. iii List of figures ....................................................................................................................... v DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP ............................................................................. vii Acknowledgements ..........................................................................................................ix Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Fetishism and its Discontents .................................................. 17 Précis ............................................................................................. 18 1.1 (Re)defining Fetishism ............................................................. 19 1.2 Fetishism in Freudian Psychoanalysis and Early Sexology .......... 26 1.3 Beyond Freud: Fetishism as Technique ..................................... 40 1.4 From Fetish to Text ................................................................. 49 Chapter 2: Sex and Gender in Roth Criticism ........................................... 53 Précis ............................................................................................. 54 2.1 Roth’s Uncertain Legacy ........................................................... 55 2.2 Shop Talk: Roth Criticism 1959-2014 ....................................... 60 Chapter 3: Embodying Sex: The Breast ........................................................ 77 Précis ............................................................................................. 78 3.1 The Breast in context .............................................................. 79 3.2 Weird Bodies: Satire and Parody in post-Portnoy Roth ............... 91 3.3 The Breast in Psychoanalytic theory ......................................... 99 3.4 Self and Other in The Breast .................................................. 108 3.5 A Life Less Ordinary: Re-envisaging The Breast ...................... 119 Chapter 4: Locating Sex: The Professor of Desire ............................... 131 Précis ........................................................................................... 132 4.1 – ‘Hidden’ Narratives in The Professor of Desire ....................... 133 4.1.1: Textual Transitions ........................................................ 133 4.1.2: The Strange Case of Herbie Bratasky .............................. 142 4.1.3: The Other Europe .......................................................... 153 4.2: Reinterpreting Place and Identity ............................................ 160 iii 4.2.1: The Kafka Teacher ......................................................... 160 4.2.2: Reading Kafka, Reading Roth ......................................... 166 4.2.3: Beyond Kafka, Beyond Roth ........................................... 179 Chapter 5: Controlling Sex: The Dying Animal ...................................... 183 Précis ........................................................................................... 184 5.1 – Counter-Reading Kepesh ...................................................... 185 5.2 – Narrative Perspective and Seduction ..................................... 193 5.3 – The Dying Animal, Psychoanalysis and Feminism .................. 198 5.4 – The Others: Subsidiary Characters in The Dying Animal ........ 208 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 217 Works Cited ...................................................................................................................... 223 Primary Sources ...................................................................... 223 Secondary Sources .................................................................. 223 iv List of figures Figure 1: Changes to the 1980 Version of The Breast, p1 ............................ 121 Figure 2: Changes to the 1980 Version of The Breast, p21 .......................... 122 Figure 3: Changes to the 1980 version of The Breast, p32 and p43 ............. 123 Figure 4: Philip Guston's Illustrations for The Breast I .................................. 125 Figure 5: Philip Guston's Illustrations for The Breast II ................................. 126 Figure 6: Philip Guston's Illustrations for The Breast III ................................ 127 Figure 7: Abandoned titles for a draft of The Professor of Desire ................. 144 Figure 8: The final page of an unfinished sequel to The Breast .................... 147 v DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP I, ....................................................................................... [please print name] declare that this thesis and the work presented in it are my own and has been generated by me as the result of my own original research. [title of thesis] .................................................................................................. ......................................................................................................................... I confirm that: 1. This work was done wholly or mainly while in candidature for a research degree at this University; 2. Where any part of this thesis has previously been submitted for a degree or any other qualification at this University or any other institution, this has been clearly stated; 3. Where I have consulted the published work of others, this is always clearly attributed; 4. Where I have quoted from the work of others, the source is always given. With the exception of such quotations, this thesis is entirely my own work; 5. I have acknowledged all main sources of help; 6. Where the thesis is based on work done by myself jointly with others, I have made clear exactly what was done by others and what I have contributed myself; 7. [Delete as appropriate] None of this work has been published before submission [or] Parts of this work have been published as: [please list references below]: Signed:.............................................................................................................. Date: ................................................................................................................. vii Acknowledgements I would like to thank the Arts and Humanities Research Council for the studentship that enabled me to undertake