BASC70074 - Philip Roth's Sabbath's Theater

Course Description

We will devote six weeks to a thorough exploration of Sabbath’s Theater (1995) – a novel shockingly teasing like Portnoy’s Complaint (1969) and majestically sharp like American Pastoral (1997). In Roth’s words, “Sabbath is a jokester like Hamlet, who winks at the genre of tragedy by cracking jokes as Sabbath winks at the genre of comedy by planning suicide. There is loss, death, dying, decay, grief — and laughter, ungovernable laughter.” Contrary to the belief that wisdom lies exclusively in the words and deeds of admirable characters, Roth’s anti-hero, Mickey Sabbath, becomes a surprising source of insight about the meaning of life. (6 weeks)

For our first meeting, please read the first two sections of the novel (about 70 pages).