Alexander Portnoy
[9] Censorship [ edit] In 1969 the book was declared a "prohibited import" in Australia. The Australian publisher, Penguin Books, circumvented the importation ban by having copies printed in Sydney in secret and stored in fleets of moving trucks to avoid seizure under state obscenity laws. [10] A 1967 agreement between the Commonwealth of Australia and its states had put in place a uniform censorship effort against books on the federal banned books list. According to this agreement, books that were imported into the country would be handled by the Commonwealth, while the states would police local publication and distribution, using state laws to prosecute. [11] However, South Australia bucked the system when it came to Portnoy's Complaint, declaring that it would not prosecute sales of the work made to an adult who made a direct enquiry of the vendor, provided the books were kept behind the counter. [12] Attempts to prosecute Penguin and any bookseller carrying the book were successful in Victoria and Queensland, but failed in Western Australia (where "works of recognised artistic, scientific or literary merit" were immune under the local statute, notwithstanding that they may have been obscene) and New South Wales, where prosecutors gave up after two trials resulted in hung juries.
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And the book's narrative style, a huge departure from the stately, semi- Jamesian prose of Roth's earlier novels, has often been likened to the stand-up performances of 1960s comedian Lenny Bruce. The novel is notable for its explicit and candid treatment of sexuality, including detailed depictions of masturbation using various props including a piece of liver [3] which Portnoy's mother later serves for dinner. [7] Writing [ edit] Roth had begun work on Portnoy's Complaint in 1967, before publication of his novel When She Was Good that year. The piece had its genesis in a satirical monologue Roth had written to accompany a slide show proposed for inclusion in the risqué revue Oh! Calcutta! that would focus on the sexual organs of the rich and famous. While the slide show would never come to fruition, Roth found part of the accompanying monologue about masturbation salvageable. Roth re-fashioned the material for the novel and sold a chapter of the book, entitled "Whacking Off", to Partisan Review.
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Portnoy's Complaint First edition cover Author Philip Roth Cover artist Paul Bacon [1] Country United States Language English Publisher Random House Publication date January 12, 1969 Media type Print (hardcover) Pages 274 ISBN 978-0394441986 OCLC 218657 Preceded by When She Was Good Followed by Our Gang Portnoy's Complaint is a 1969 American novel by Philip Roth. [2] Its success turned Roth into a major celebrity, sparking a storm of controversy over its explicit and candid treatment of sexuality, including detailed depictions of masturbation using various props including a piece of liver. [3] The novel tells the humorous monologue of "a lust-ridden, mother-addicted young Jewish bachelor, " who confesses to his psychoanalyst in "intimate, shameful detail, and coarse, abusive language. " [4] [5] Many of its characteristics (such as comedic prose, themes of sexual desire and sexual frustration, and a self-conscious literariness) went on to become Roth trademarks. [ citation needed] In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Portnoy's Complaint 52nd on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.
Time included this novel in its " TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005. " [6] Structure and themes [ edit] Structurally, Portnoy's Complaint is a continuous monologue by narrator Alexander Portnoy to his psychoanalyst, Dr. Spielvogel; Roth later explained that the artistic choice to frame the story as a psychoanalytic session was motivated by "the permissive conventions of the patient-analyst situation, " which would "permit me to bring into my fiction the sort of intimate, shameful detail, and coarse, abusive language that [... ] in another fictional environment would have struck me as pornographic, exhibitionistic, and nothing but obscene. " [4] [5] The novel is set primarily in New Jersey from the 1940s to the 1960s. Portnoy is "a lust-ridden, mother-addicted young Jewish bachelor", [4] and the narration weaves through time describing scenes from each stage of his life; every recollection in some way touches upon his central dilemma: his inability to enjoy the fruits of his sexual adventures even as his extreme libidinal urges force him to seek release in ever more creative (and, in his mind, degrading and shameful) acts of eroticism; [ citation needed] also, much of his dilemma is that "his sense of himself, his past, and his ridiculous destiny is so fixed. "
Portnoy's Complaint – Still shocking at 40". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 1 October 2010. ^ Hofler, pp. 48-56 ^ ^ "Don Chipp: larrikin, censor, and party founder". 29 August 2006. Retrieved 20 August 2017. ^ Sawer, Geoffrey (27 January 1971). "Between the Lines". The Canberra Times. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 20 August 2017. ^ Fitzgerald, Alan (1 September 1970). "Agreement denied". p. 3. Retrieved 20 August 2017. ^ Moore, Nicole (1 October 2012). The Censor's Library: Uncovering the Lost History of Australia's Banned Books. St Lucia: University of Queensland Press. p. 414. ISBN 978-0-7022-3916-8. Retrieved 20 August 2017. References [ edit] Hofler, Robert (2014). Sexplosion: From Andy Warhol to A Clockwork Orange - How a Generation of Pop Rebels Broke All the Taboos. New York: itbooks, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 978-0-06-208834-5. Budgie. (1972 London Weekend Television) Series 2. Episode 4-The Jump Boys- Portnoy's Complaint is referenced by Charlie Endell (played by Iain Cuthbertson) when he tells Detective Constable Leadbetter (played by Jack Shepherd) that when he looks at erotic books in Endell's sex shop that he is suffering from a similar complaint.