Self-Identifications with Characters of Russian Classics in Philip Roth’s Academic Trilogy

Abstract

Aspiring to construct his identity, professor Kepesh, the protagonist of Philip Roth’s academic trilogy, turns to Russian literature and fi nds himself as a Chekhov’s intelligent (The Professor of Desire, 1977), a Gogol’s transformed body substance (The Breast, 1972; this novel, although it was written earlier, chronologically continues Kepesh’s story) and finally a Dostoevsky’s father Karamazov (The Dying Animal, 2001). The paper attempts to describe these three self-identifications as a continuous process of identity (de)formation. To discuss the models of the reader’s self-identification with literary characters, the author turns to Rita Felski’s concepts of self-intensification and self-extension. Refs 34.