Portnoy and Its Aftermath

This essay maps the explosive impact of the novel looking at it both as the culmination of the preceding years and the expression of features that are Roth’s trademark. It privileges what Roth said about Portnoy and his early career, at the expense of critical assessments of the novel. More specifically, it focuses on Roth’s unpacking of the dynamics that gave shape to the book and thus tries to put up front the workings of his imagination, the mixture of the ingredients, both thematic and formal, that make Roth the kind of writer he is.