534
JACK LUDWIG
shoes" episode in Proust, Portnoy sends his father off in a cab and
hears him
cry
out "What if I die?" Interpretation is turned over
to
Spielvogel: "But this of course you understand, this of course is your
bread and your butter."
Somehow, even as the Jewish Mother joke turns into gallows humor
and Portnoy the fanatic sounds strident and shrill, Roth's brilliant
writing doesn't waver. Great splashes of comic color explode on a dull
nudnick backdrop.
Portnoy's Complaint
is maybe the funniest American
book ever, and one of the saddest. The comic screams against the
actually ordinary, and makes it as real as Portnoy's complaint makes
Sophie.
8
What's left is equal time, a punch line for Sophie: "As for my
Alex - that little
bonditt
- he wouldn't give up his mother for the
world."
Jack Ludwig
PSYCHOTHERAPY:
THEORY, RESEARCH AND PRACTICE
Quarterly journal of the
Psychotherapy Division-American Psychological Association
EUGENE
T.
GENDLIN,
Editor
University of Chicago
PSYCHOTHERAPY also welcomes non-psychologist subscribers.
The journal specializes in:
Actual case descriptions
Reports of genuine research studies
Discussion among practicing therapists
Theoretical formulations
Reviews of the new books in the field
Rates: $8.00 yearly
$4.00 student rate
Write: Eugene T. Gendlin,
Editor
Department of Psychology
University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois 60637
