The Dying Animal
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Amazon.co.uk Review
The Dying Animal is the latest addition to Philip Roth's already considerable and highly celebrated oeuvre. The protagonist is David Kepesh, a recurring protagonist in Roth's work, having been introduced first in the Kafkaesque 1972 novella, The Breast, and again in The Professor of Desire (1979). Kepesh, now a 70-year-old arts critic and lecturer in critical theory, is a sexual adventurer, who feels himself liberated from marriage, children and old school sexual mores by the 1960s sexual revolution, and uses his celebrity and intellectual reputation to seduce the young women that he tutors. Written in the form of a conversational confession, Roth has Kepesh introduce the method of his sexual conquests and then the foil to his method, the beautiful, mannered and busty Consuela Castillo. So begins a description of a descent into the madness of love; "crazy distortions of longing, doting, possessiveness ... this need, this derangement. Will it ever stop?"
. What begins as a chronology of sexual conquest becomes an exquisite meditation on the destructive and addictive nature of love and lust. Notions of social freedom, and sexual emancipation are explored as Kepesh, who for so long has considered himself a free animal, finds himself caged in by his obsession. His journey of sexual discovery becomes one of self-discovery, and as his life journey nears its close he also begins to realise in himself and those around him, "the dying animal" (from Yeats' poem "Sailing to Byzantium"),a different beast to the sexual animal yet still entwined with it through shared flesh.
This is a sexually candid novel, a brave and daring one, a novel that does not blink in the admission that so many of our actions are motivated by the sexual. In this it is reminiscent of the writings of Henry Miller, which are mentioned among the many literary references that populate this book. Every line of Roth's prose brings a desire to read the next; it is brilliantly written, and like the Yeats poem from which it draws inspiration, it is open to much interpretation. --Iain Robinson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
GQ
'An erotic masterpiece, The Dying Animal confirms Roth as America's president of sexual politics.'
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This novelette marks a change of style for Roth. It is a short and very personal account of the insecurities of true love. In this case the central character is a familiar Rothian sexual adventurer who loses all his self-confidence when he finally falls in love with one of his much younger former students. His inability to confront his insecurity leads him to destroy the relationship. He only discovers his mistake when it is too late. I loved this book. As so often with Roth, one wonders how much is autobiographical.... to call the transient sex scenes pornographic is prurient and silly: this is a story about human tragedy, beautifully crafted by one of the greatest writers.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I read this book on a sunny Saturday afternoon in the park. The book is small in size, both pages and format, so it makes you feel that he's written it just for you. Like he's letting you into a secret. It's a beautiful story, sometimes meandering, but it always comes back to the main story with a jolt. The ending makes you realise we are all human, no matter what lives we are leading. Life can be taken from you, in a second, in the most tragic way.
Format:Paperback
Roth's powerful, honest and sometimes rough, but then again very sensitive, beautiful language introduces its reader perfectly to an old US literature professor's thoughts. The latter loosing his before so cherished freedom ever more to his lover Consuela (his former student), philosophizes about love, sex, the problems of marriage and age.
One just HAS to read this short novel in one reading session without stopping.
Certainly a must for every Philip Roth fan and those wanting to become one.
One just HAS to read this short novel in one reading session without stopping.
Certainly a must for every Philip Roth fan and those wanting to become one.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Porn masquerading as literature
We read this for our book club (largely women, one token man) and were universal in our loathing and condemnation. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Pamela Thomas
More meditations on sex and death, from the dirty-old-man of letters
I've always had trouble with Philip Roth. I read him because I know he's supposed to be such a great writer, but I can't always be bothered to finish the book. Read more
Published on 14 Aug 2009 by Phil O'Sofa
Inconsistent and not much fun. Admirable in certain ways though.
"The Dying Animal" served as my introduction to Roth simply because it was all my library had by him. It tells of an ageing professors struggles with love, sex and romance. Read more
Published on 22 July 2009 by Mr. Lewis J. Brooks
The male brain laid bare
If you haven't yet read Philip Roth - or if you haven't read him apart from an improperly motivated skip through Portnoy's Complaint in your teenage years - then this is a fine... Read more
Published on 8 Feb 2009 by M. Harrison
A great little book
Passionate, uninhibited and hilarious - this is vintage Philip Roth. A shameless celebration of getting on and loving it.
Published on 1 Mar 2006 by Joseph Peterson
delayed reaction
The "Dying Animal" is the only book of Roth's I have read. Though I was not too impressed while reading it, I have to say that, in retrospect, nothing apart from V. Read more
Published on 10 Jan 2004 by "curtlain2"
A limp offering from the redoubtable Philip Roth
Hard to say, isn't it, when you haven't read the other books David Kapesh features in - The Breast and Professor of Desire. At least that's how I feel. Read more
Published on 20 Aug 2003 by ghandibob
A very fine book...
Having only recently read Roth's previous novel, "The Human Stain", I was struck at first by the number of similar strands that appear in both books. Read more
Published on 12 Mar 2002
Below-par pornographic short.
Having read only one previous Philip Roth book, the wonderful 'Goodbye Columbus', I had high expectations. Read more
Published on 7 Dec 2001
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