Putz the Id back in Yid.

[mattd]

In Sabbath's Theater, Philip Roth finally showed us he could write a book 
in which neither Philip Roth nor his thinly-veiled stand-in, Nathan 
Zuckerman, made an appearance.
The theme of Sabbath's Theater has been done before: a lecherous, 
unconventional man railing at the ravages of time and the dwindling of the 
sexual potency by which he has defined his very existence. Most of the 
time, however, this theme is poorly written, the characters trite and 
cliched. Roth, not surprisingly, invests this novel with more lyrical 
energy, more sexual frankness, sharper comedy and deeper seriousness than 
has any writer before.
Although Roth does make use of both flashback and association, the plot of 
Sabbath's Theater is brisk. Mickey Sabbath, who went off to sea at the age 
of eighteen just so he could visit the world's brothels, is a loathsome 
character. His abiding philosophy of life is simply to do whatever he 
pleases and never to worry about pleasing anyone else. Nothing phases him, 
in fact, he seems to take pleasure in his uncanny ability to antagonize 
others. Their outrage seems to be only a reflection of his own self-worth. 
Mickey Sabbath manages to hurt, deceive, betray, offend, insult and abuse 
just about everyone with whom he comes into contact.
A true degenerate, Mickey Sabbath may seem to lack any sense of moral 
conscience. Although anyone meeting such a character would deny it, Sabbath 
actually spent an idyllic childhood on the Jersey shore; a childhood that 
was shattered by a traumatic dual loss. In an effort to deal with his loss 
and the resultant pain, to stamp out the brutality of life, and, to affirm 
his own sense of aliveness, Sabbath turns to carnal pleasures with a 
vengeance, indulging each and every sexual impulse.
Even as Sabbath indulges his crasser nature, however, and casts a satirical 
eye on those who deny their sensual impulses, he still endeavors to 
understand himself and the workings of the universe. In fact, much of the 
novel's comic pathos is derived from the tension that exists between 
Sabbath's base nature and his lechery and his seemingly incomprehensible 
yearning for cosmic illumination.
There is a lot of graphic sex in Sabbath's Theater and most readers will 
probably find it simply too perverse. I did not enjoy reading this book, 
and, although I think I understand Mickey Sabbath, I have to admit that I 
hated him. He suffers, that cannot be denied, but he is simply so perverse, 
and his behavior so amoral, that I really didn't care.
To be fair, I do have to admit that the perversity in this book did enhance 
and advance my understanding of Mickey Sabbath and the conflicts in which 
he is embroiled. And Philip Roth is certainly better at creating 
degenerate, or at least morally ambivalent characters, than he is at 
creating the lofty or the solemn. His "good" characters are simply too good 
to be true, while Sabbath, much as we may despise him, is completely 
credible. He may be despicable and perverted, but at least he knows it.
The writing in Sabbath's Theater is absolutely first-rate; it is pure 
Philip Roth and it crackles with more energy and exuberance than Portnoys' 
Complaint. The characters are more complex, the narrative more 
sophisticated and the tonal range wider than many of Roth's other works. 
The ending of the book virtually drips with irony. This is a multi-layered 
novel and one that is brilliantly original. It also contains some of the 
funniest writing to be found anywhere in American fiction today. Sabbath's 
Theater is, at its heart, a darkly comic masterpiece of complexity from one 
of America's finest authors.(by the same author;Operation shylock)