Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2000. [Vol. 6.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 26)

Studies - Tibor Tóth: The Golden Cradle: Philip Roth's Revision of the Golden Bough Tradition

freedom. David Kepesh obscures his own thirst for freedom as he is torn between reckless sexual ambitions and pretended conscientious intellectual dedication. The avalanche of passion, and cynicism cannot only not satisfy the professor's desire but also renders him incapable of valid revisions resulting in possibilities for a new start. His consequent impotence renders literary creativity questionable as well. David Kepesh is not able to function as an artist, or rather as an interpreter of other artists' works. The result is anxiety and impotence. He understands that there is more life in art than his actual life and his vitality vanishes. Philip Roth is explicit about this authorial conviction. David Kepesh is freed of his former wife whom he interpreted as the cause of his intellectual blockages only to discover that nothing has changed. He has to realise that 'cutting the roots,' severed the illusion of possible links between him and the great artists of the past and it resulted in his loss of identity. In the end he is a man with no identity, or genuine intellectual dedication and as a result he cannot interpret the meanings of human existence formulated by art. He does not actually try to dominate those around him. David Kepesh vindicates isolation, retirement in a kind of Ivory Tower, in the name of responsible order, but left alone he is at least as deficient as when confronted with the burdens of an unhappy marriage. His 'orderly' isolation is dominated by chaos, a chaos that cannot be interpreted through literary experience, as he remains burdened with the problems of his fictionally unresolved 'existential' dilemmas. The crisis is further deepened by the fact that his dying mother pays a last visit to her son and at this point even the disintegration of the model family seems inevitable. The call of the past confuses David even more if possible and the well-meaning mother's death seems a judgement on David's inability to sustain "steady, dedicated living" (P. D. 125). Dr. Klinger tries in vain, as is but natural with a Rothian analyst, to close the gap between libido and conscience. Claire Ovington, the erotic, innocent, virtuous and orderly woman seems to offer Kepesh the possibility of a new start. David Kepesh returns to his abandoned book on Chekov motivated by identification with the stories that tenderly express the 'humiliations and failures' of 'socialised beings,' which "seek a way out of the shell of restrictions and convention" (P. D. 201). 116