Promiscuous: "Portnoy's Complaint" and Our Doomed Pursuit of Happiness

by Bernard Avishai

A spirited biography of Philip Roth's notorious novel, from the outrage it sparked to its impact on Roth to its legacy some forty years later

The publication of Portnoy’s Complaint in 1969 provoked instant, powerful reactions. It blasted Philip Roth into international fame, subjected him to unrelenting personal scrutiny and conjecture, and shocked legions of readers—some delighted, others appalled. Portnoy and other main characters became instant archetypes, and Roth himself became a touchstone for conflicting attitudes toward sexual liberation, Jewish power, political correctness, Freudian language, and bourgeois disgust. What about this book inspired Richard Lacayo of Time to describe it as “a literary instance of shock and awe,” and the Modern Library to list it among the 100 best English-language novels of the twentieth century? Bernard Avishai offers a witty exploration of Roth’s satiric masterpiece, based on the prolific novelist's own writings, teaching notes, and personal interviews. In addition to discussing the book’s timing, rhetorical gambit, and sheer virtuousity, Avishai includes a chapter on the Jewish community’s outrage over the book and how Roth survived it, and another on the author’s scorching treatment of psychoanalysis. Avishai shows that Roth’s irreverent novel left us questioning who, or what, was the object of the satire. Hilariously, it proved the serious ways we construct fictions about ourselves and others.

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being of the goy persuasion, I cannot claim to understand all the subtext of Jewish cultural identification, or for that matter, male sexual angst. I am the forbidden obsession of Alex Portnoy, a shikse. Having read "Portnoy's Complaint" in the early 70s in acknowledgement of its impact on the cultural hubbub at that time and on contemporary literature, I was interested in reading this study of the book and Philip Roth's pre-publication inspirations and the aftershocks he may have endured.
Bernard Avishai, in addition to being a brilliantly compelling writer, has an intellect that looks at a landscape and has the vision to see the genus of every tree as well as the forest as a whole. Avishai, through discussions with Roth himself, his admirers, his critics, and interpreting reviews and articles (ranging from thrillingly groundbreaking to painfully scathing) has written a comprehensive analysis of Roth's most controversial work. He plumbs the depths of Jewish faith, family dynamics, sexual identity, psychoanalysis, global politics and humor, all of which made "Portnoy's Complaint" such a body blow when published and so lasting in the minds of its readers ever since.
Probably not his intention, (and coming dangerously close to Kingsley Amis's faulty interpretations), I appreciated "Promiscuous" even beyond Avishai's insights into Roth, the 60s, American Jewish identity, psychology, et al. I found this book to be one of the best examples of literary analysis and study that I have ever read. Any student of literature, or for that matter any person who enjoys simply being intellectually engaged across multiple themes, will appreciate this book's propositions. The only part of this book which falls short is delivering on the subtitle -- "... our doomed pursuit of happiness". The "happiness" discussion reads as if it was tacked onto the end and uses examples of Hobbes, Locke, Franklin and Roth, but Roth's range of works, not necessarily the Portnoy book itself. The happiness theme, or in Alex Portnoy's case, unattainable happiness, is made clear in others parts of the book, just not with laser focus at the end. That said, Avishai's capacious intellect and writing prowess make this a great read and one that deserves attention.

[Ben · Rating 2 out of 5]

Once, an exploded conversation in Jerusalem brought the submerged tension to the surface. In the winter of 1988, at the beginning of the first Intifada, I arranged a lunch at the Knesset between Roth, with whom I was traveling, and Ehud Olmert, then a Likud backbencher, with whom I had become chummy over years of covering Israeli politics. Roth began straightaway asking Olmert how, in view of the mounting violence, Israel could really hope to keep territories populated by so many Palestinians. Olmert responded, with a complaint of his own, that the Palestinian revolt resulted from the fact that American Jews were "not coming" to settle there: presumably, two million American Jews flooding the territories would have rendered the claims of Palestinians moot. Roth suggested that American Jews might have ambitions of their own. Olmert dismissed these as "inauthentic".

The lunch quickly degenerated into raised voices and hurried departures. But -- a curious twist -- Olmert told me recently that this lunch stuck in his mind and changed his view of the prospects for Zionism in America. "If a good Jew like Roth felt this way," Olmert said, "then what could be expected of the others?" (I did not have the heart to ask him what he meant by "good.")

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great little piece of cultural criticism about one of the funniest American novels. Erudite and eye-opening, Avishai does what all real critics should do-- elucidates and delights, makes the familiar seem new again.