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      The Professor of Desire

      by Philip Roth
      Published
      Sep 1977
      Main Genre
      Literary Literary
      Rating
      Pages
      272
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      Series
      David Kepesh Book 2

      About This Book

      "Ranks among the major achievements in the literature of our time." —Village Voice

      "A thoughtful … elegant novel…. A fine display of literary skills." —New York Times Book Review

      Philip Roth's profound and often hilarious novel—the central book in Roth's Kepesh trilogy—about where we seek pleasure and why we flee it.

      As a student in college, David Kepesh styles himself "a rake among scholars, a scholar among rakes." Little does he realize how prophetic his motto will be—or how damning. For as Roth follows Kepesh from the domesticity of childhood into the vast wilderness of erotic possibility, from a ménage á trois in London to the throes of loneliness in New York, Kapesh confronts the central dilemma of pleasure: how to make a truce between dignity and desire; and how to survive the ordeal of an unhallowed existence.

      Series Placement

      Book 2
      View full series order

      Genres & Themes

      Genres

      General Fiction

      Subgenres

      Literary

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      Paperback

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      Mar 1994 Vintage ISBN13 9780679749004 ISBN10 0679749004
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      Aug 1978 Bantam ISBN13 9780553118865 ISBN10 0553118862
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      Sep 1985 Penguin ISBN13 9780140076776 ISBN10 0140076778
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      Oct 1995 Vintage (UK) ISBN13 9780099389019 ISBN10 0099389010
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      Hardcover

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      First Edition Sep 1977 Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN13 9780374237561 ISBN10 0374237565
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      Jan 1978 Cape ISBN13 9780224015653 ISBN10 0224015656
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      eBook

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      Dec 2010 Vintage ISBN13 9781446400661 ISBN10 1446400662
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      Jul 2013 Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN13 9781466846463 ISBN10 1466846461
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      Jul 2013 Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN10 B00D0MY4HA
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      Sep 2022 Knopf ISBN13 9780593684948 ISBN10 059368494X
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      Apr 2026 Mariner Books Classics ISBN13 9780063499904 ISBN10 0063499908
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      Dec 2009 Brilliance Audio ISBN13 9781441805485 ISBN10 1441805486
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      Dec 2009 Brilliance Audio ISBN10 B0030V51GO
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