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Can the provisions of sexual desire ultimately lead to happiness? The professor in
Philip Roth's PROFESSOR OF DESIRE --- David Kepesh --- explores that question and its
implications in this witty and erudite novel that begins, quite literally, with a
hilarious display of "bathroom" humor and ends with the pathos of a man
reflecting on the ramifications of his personal history.
David Kepesh has only two things on his mind: women and literature. When he wins a
Fulbright fellowship to study in London, Kepesh indulges himself in the erotic
possibilities of his life while trying to keep his academic status on the up-and-up.
During his adventures, he meets Elisabeth, who eventually becomes his wife. Yet, for
everything they share in the sexual arena, there is not enough common ground in the rest
of their life to provide a balance, so eventually they divorce.
The event sends Kepesh into a period of depression and self-reflection. His job as
professor of comparative literature is the art of sustenance on which his sanity hangs. He
puts his energy into his work and it is there, after a period of reasonable stability,
that he is introduced to Claire.
It is in the development of David and Claire's relationship that Roth really begins to
shine. Poised between the bookends of Kepesh's literary heroes --- Kafka and Chekov ---
David and Claire play out a drama that dances among the shadows of both writers in its
search for the happy light of a common sun. The result is that THE PROFESSOR OF DESIRE
moves from the shelf of mere entertainment to a philosophical rendering of the dilemmas
encountered as love and lust do battle in a war of the heart.
--- Reviewed by Vern Wiessner
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