»Philip Roth, in works of tremendous creativity and dazzling humour, presents heroes in the grip of psychopathological problems that hamper their love lives in a singular way : their desire is often marked by straying, inconstancy and even inconsistency, and their sexuality by an insatiable need for sensual contact. The metaphorical tale The breast (1972), which belongs to the tradition of metamorphosis, leads one to reflect, through the transformation of David Kapesh into a breast, upon the fantasy (or perversion), taboo but frequent, of experiencing unlimited and constantly renewed sexual enjoyment. In The dying Animal (2004), the same hero manages, after a profound psychical reorganisation, to abandon his cherished unconditional freedom and his constant search for erotic pleasure ; he achieves a real love relationship where the Other can really be loved, both sexually and affectively.»