- Author
- Philip Roth
- Title
- The Dying Animal
- Translator
- Publisher
- Vintage, 2002
- Info
- 176 pages, £8.99
More alive than ever!
The story is set last century’s sixties, in the middle of the American sexual revolution. David Kepesh, an ageing university professor, is fascinated by the female world to the point of fall-ing head over heels in love with a beautiful Cuban girl who will dramatically and unexpected-ly upset his life.
At first, the obsession with sex is apparently used to investigate the themes of death and old age: painful reflections on the passing of time where the protagonists, dotted with a rare preci-sion, are surrounded by equally fascinating secondary characters.
Roth’s writing is raw and masterful, and addresses the reader with an informal approach, al-most giving him/her the feeling of a physical contact with the narrated events. The characters’ sore physicality gives us a perfect reading of the passing of life, and of the infinite distance between youth and old age. Small gems from a great writer.
Translation by Silvia Accorrà (edited by Sabrina Macchi)
