Abstract

This essay compares the protagonists of two of the most important recent novels by Philip Roth, The Sabbath’s Theater and The Dying Animal, with various references to Roth’s previous works. The stories of both Mickey Sabbath and David Kepesh can be both read as the epitaph of the phallocentric and predatory white male, problematic protagonist of Roth’s narrative, at least since The Portnoy’s Complaint.