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

a simultaneously existential and spiritual dimension. Philip Roth's acid pun detaches the official, material point of view from the private, spiritual one and in this novel the mental experience coexists with the physical one and reflects on its condition. Debra Shostak discusses the importance of the above narrative solutions with reference to the diversity of the narrative 'I.' The 'I,' the sign of subjectivity becomes an object, the thing defined by its materiality or finality. In consequence materiality and finality become indicators of their own lack to the consistence of identity. It is the "I" that helps the 'facts' become interpretable not only as objects but as subjects as well. The question is whether the breastprofessor can also be a professor-breast and no definite answer can be formulated. Understood in physical terms the question would be one more in the list of disgusting puns attached to this novel. Yet, if the breast is interpreted as the physical world as a consequence of the spiritual world's influence, the opposite is not an impossible premise either. (Shostak 325) Appropriation of spiritual creativity and sexuality makes it possible to interpret sexual desire in terms of creative desire. Professor David Allan Kepesh's giving up his 'I' at the end of the novel displays mobility of the 'I' as the solution reached is at best temporal, if it can be called a solution, normally a breast cannot have male sexual desires. Kafka's, Gogol's or Roth's interpretation of metamorphosis maintains its freedom exactly in the spirit I have just identified. In spite of the obvious differences I can say that Sarah's condition is as irrelevant as is Kepesh's, because she can create as many masks of herself as she wishes on the basis of her associations with art, myth and creativity which are infinite categories Philip Roth is convinced that fiction is by nature an expression of freedom of the intellect and as such allows for reinterpretation rather than imitation. This principle becomes central in Philip Roth's later fiction and the design of The Breast is applicable to Philip Roth's constant reinterpretation of his own fiction and his 'fictional recall'. Thus I consider it important to remember that the characters of The Professor of Desire

, The Breast and My Life as a Man remind the reader of their and the respective book's fictional or imaginary status 129