1. So, a few thoughts about Lenny Bruce, pop art, Philip Guston, & Philip Roth.
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4. I actually think stand-up comedy influenced Roth. He was in Chicago in 1950s when Nichols & May were revolutionizing comedy with therapy-inflected relationship comedy that anticipates Roth.
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5. Lenny Bruce too was an influence -- Roth was close friends with Albert Goldman, who was a big on Bruce and would write the (admittedly) hostile biography.
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6. Before Portnoy was published, Roth apparently would try bits and pieces out on friends at parties as a spiel, a stand-up routine (which was very popular).
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7. One way to understand Roth's trajectory in 1950s-1960s is its the same journey made by his painter friend Philip Guston from abstract expressionism to pop art.
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8. Guston's anti-Nixon drawings were one of the inspirations for Roth's anti-Nixon joke book, Our Gang. In books of 1960s and 1970s, Roth, like Guston, learned power of caricature.
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9. My more extended thoughts on Philip Roth here:https://newrepublic.com/article/148506/philip-roth-mandarin-joker …
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