The Dying Animal -by Philip Roth 广州大学 陆道夫 主讲2016-11-301广州大学陆道夫老师美国文学7Philip Roths masterpieces2广州大学陆道夫老师美国文学7Philip Roths masterpieces3广州大学陆道夫老师美国文学7Philip Roths masterpieces4广州大学陆道夫老师美国文学7Recall of the story 1. What are the sources of pleasure in Consuela Castillo and David Kepeshs relationship? What do they offer each other? What allows each to “master” the other? Describe Consuela. 2. Why does Kepesh become obsessively jealous? Do his pleasure and jealousy derive from the same source? 5广州大学陆道夫老师美国文学73. After Consuela leaves Kepesh, his friend the poet George OHearn warns him to stay away from her: “This is the pathology in its purest form. . . . You violated the law of aesthetic distance. You sentimentalized the aesthetic experience with this girlyou personalized it, you sentimentalized it, and you lost the sense of separation essential to your enjoyment” Why would George suggest, and Kepesh be receptive to, the notion that sexual relations be governed by aesthetic laws? 6广州大学陆道夫老师美国文学74. Kepesh agrees with George that “attachment is ruinous,” finds those who voluntarily give up their freedom “ridiculous,” and feels that “marriage at its best is a sure-fire stimulant to the thrills of licentious subterfuge” . His son Kenny, who struggles to make his own marriage work, accuses him of gross irresponsibility, of confusing sexual freedom with vulgar self-interest, of behaving like a lecherous fool. Does the novel resolve these conflicting points of view? Does it endorse one position over the other or simply bring them into clarifying opposition? 5. Why doesnt Kepeshs son Kenny listen to his father? Is Kepesh not giving Kenny good advice? 7广州大学陆道夫老师美国文学76. In what ways is The Dying Animal about the intersection of Americas cultural history with David Kepeshs personal history? How does he interpret the sixties? How does the sexual revolution “revolutionize” his life? What does it cost him? 7. Kepesh argues that family life is childish and that “emancipated manhood never has had a social spokesman or an educational system. It has no social status because people dont want it to have social status” Why do people refuse to give “emancipated manhood” social status? Do they give “emancipated womanhood” social status? If Kepesh were gay or female, would that alter your response to the book? 8广州大学陆道夫老师美国文学7Why this title?The Dying Animal- the slow death of the body, Mortality. As Kepesh discovers years after their affair ends, Consuela has breast cancer and is undergoing both chemotherapy and a mastectomy. (The time is ripe for the reviewer to insert various theories on Roths objectification, demystification, and deconstruction of the body, but alas, time, space, and the fact that the college years have long since passed for this reviewer obviate the purpose of such analyses.)9广州大学陆道夫老师美国文学7Why this title?THE DYING ANIMAL, is both pornographic and poetic, sexual and sentimental, and ultimately, a socio-sexual history lesson, a love story, cultural commentary, and dirty old mans fantasy all rolled into a pithy. 10广州大学陆道夫老师美国文学7Story summaryKepesh is fascinated by the beautiful young Consuela Castillo, a student in one of his courses. An erotic liaison is formed between the two; Kepesh becomes obsessively enamored of his lovers breasts, a fetish developed in the previous novels. Despite his fevered devotion to Consuela, the sexually promiscuous professor maintains a concurrent affair with a previous lover, now divorced. He is also reluctant to expose himself to the scrutiny or ridicule that might follow from an introduction to Consuelas family , because he fears such a meeting would expose the implausible age gap in their relationship. Ultimately, Kepesh limits their relationship to the physical instead of embarking upon any deeper arrangement.11广州大学陆道夫老师美国文学7In the end, Kepesh is destroyed by his indecisiveness, the fear of senescence, his lust and jealousy.Consuela never subsequently finds a lover who can show the same level of devotion to her body as Kepesh had. After some years of estrangement, she asks him to take nude photographs of her because she will be losing one of her breasts to a life-saving mastectomy. in the form of a conversational confession 12广州大学陆道夫老师美国文学7Themes of the novel love, sex, family life, betrayal;real intimacy little revelations about aging and confronting death .?13广州大学陆道夫老师美国文学7Character analysisDavid Kepesh, white-haired and over sixty, an eminent TV culture critic and star lecturer at a New York college - as well as an articulate propagandist of the sexual revolution. Film -14广州大学陆道夫老师美国文学7Character analysisDavid is a divorced, semi-retired professor, philanderer, libertine and man of the world. He teaches a class in Practical Criticism and does book reviews on NPR. 15广州大学陆道夫老师美国文学7David Kepesh,To his students, especially the female ones, he possesses an intellectual and journalistic glamour: They are helplessly drawn to celebrity. He reciprocates their attention, being very vulnerable to female beauty.16广州大学陆道夫老师美国文学7At the time the novel is narrated, David is 70. However, the subject matter is an affair that started eight years earlier and lasted over 18 months. Consuela Castillo is a 24 year old student when he meets her in his class. As he has done for the last 15 years, he targets Consuela for his advances, but resolves not to start a physical relationship until she has sat her exams and received her grade. This is hisconcession to propriety.17广州大学陆道夫老师美国文学7 a young Cuban woman ;David describes as a good heart, a lovely face, a gaze at once inviting and removed, gorgeous breasts, and so newly hatched as a woman that to find fragments of broken shell adhering to that ovoid forehead wouldnt have been a surprise. I saw right away that this was going to be my girl. Consuela Castillo 18广州大学陆道夫老师美国文学7the beautiful, Mannered busty Consuela Castillo. 19广州大学陆道夫老师美国文学7 her beauty makes David sink into the madness of love; crazy distortions of longing, doting, possessiveness . this need, this derangement. Will it ever stop?“20广州大学陆道夫老师美国文学7Consuelas appeal is most immediately physical. David first spots her beautiful cleavage, then her gorgeous breasts, then her ample buttocks. Overall, she is a tall voluptuous Cuban; statuesque, marvelous, enticing and alluring:She knew what her body was worth.She has a D cup, this duchess, really big, beautiful breasts, and skin of a very white colour, skin that, the moment you see it, makes you want to lick it.21广州大学陆道夫老师美国文学7Her appeal is, however, more than physical:Shes not a demi-adolescent, shes not a slouching, unkempt, like-ridden girl. Shes well-spoken, sober, her posture is perfect.she dresses carefully, with quiet taste.not to desensualise herself, but more, it would seem, to professionalise herself.David implicitly differentiates himself from Humbert Humbert, because Consuela is adult, cultured, mature, not a minor, not a nymphet, not a victim, supposedly not an inappropriate object or target, academic propriety and age aside. But she is an object, a target nevertheless.22广州大学陆道夫老师美国文学7an object dartThe relationship is nevertheless defined in terms of the male gaze. Consuela, initially, is something for David to look at, to watch over. She is not so much a sex object as an object dart.What Consuela gets from David in particular, in his opinion, is the authority of his educated gaze. He purports to judge her professionally:23广州大学陆道夫老师美国文学7an object dartI had pronounced her a great work of art, with all the magical influence of a great work of art.she had only to be there, on view, and the understanding of her importance flowed from me. It was not required of her.that she have any sort of self-conception. Thats what I was for: I was Consuelas awareness of herself.He admires her simplicity, her lack of complexity, even if its not strictly correct to say that she lacks a self-awareness of her own.24广州大学陆道夫老师美国文学7The end-Thanks for listening 25广州大学陆道夫老师美国文学7