The breast

by Philip Roth, David Colacci

1972 · 89 pages

breast
college teachers
david kepesh (fictitious character)
fiction in english
metamorphosis
fiction (fictional works by one author)

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About this book

“Terrific…inventive and sane and very funny. The trick which is the heart of the book is brilliant…and rich with meaning.” — New York Times Book Review

“Hilarious, serious, visionary, logical, sexual-philosophical; the ending amazes.” —Cynthia Ozick

In Philip Roth's brilliant take on The Metamorphosis, Professor David Kepesh wakes up one morning to find that he has been transformed—into a 155-pound breast.

Like a latter-day Gregor Samsa, Professor David Kepesh wakes up one morning to find that he has been transformed. But where Kafka’s protagonist turned into a giant beetle, the narrator of Philip Roth’s richly conceived fantasy has become a 155-pound female breast. What follows is a deliriously funny yet touching exploration of full implications of Kepesh’s metamorphosis—a daring heretical book that brings us face to face with the intrinsic strangeness of sex and subjectivity.

Quotes by Philip Roth

From Wikiquote

The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress.
When you publish a book, it’s the world’s book. The world edits it.
To become a celebrity is to become a brand name. There is Ivory Soap, Rice Krispies, and Philip Roth. Ivory is the soap that floats; Rice Krispies the breakfast cereal that goes snap-crackle-pop; Philip Roth the Jew who masturbates with a piece of liver.