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.Herzog (Penguin Modern Classics)

by: Saul Bellow

April 26, 2001
This novel starts with a ferociously strong image, then moves us into the mind of Moses Herzog. Herzog is a failing professor with an unfaithful second wife, a treacherous best friend, unwritten books and theses which remind him of his failings. Also, in a bizarrely wonderful twist, we find that Herzog writes letters avidly, even compulsively. These are largely to dead people, either relatives or historical figures he has never met. Also mathematicians - he writes to Euclid and points out why his theories don't add up.

The novel also contains a profound and bitter sense of betrayal, Herzog's as his marriage fails and his child whisked from him, Bellow's as similar events in his life mirrored the plot.

This is Bellow's ... Read More:
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.The Adventures of Augie March (Penguin Modern Classics)

by: Saul Bellow

April 26, 2001
The recollections of the novel's narrator, Augie, take the reader on a lengthy but engaging journey through the America of the Great Depression and, towards the end of the novel, the Second World War. Throughout the novel Augie fails to decide on a specific vocation. Whilst intelligent and well read, he lacks the specialist skills and certainty required to pursue a conventional career. Consequently, he finds employment in a number of multifarious, mostly menial, roles. Willing to turn his hand to anything, Augie finds himself, amongst other things, hitching rides across states on freezing-cold freight trains, stealing books for wealthy university students and helping to train an eagle with his then girlfriend in Mexico. The realist style of Bellow's ... Read More:
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.Seize the Day (Penguin Modern Classics)

by: Saul Bellow

April 26, 2001
This astounding novella pounces on your attention from the first lines. It used a language of alienated introspection, with a self deluded failure of a man, bitter about everything and harbouring a particular grudge against his father.

As Tommy Wilheim's story unfolds, we begin to see the parts of him that put him in this position. He is a proud dreamer of a man, too fond of good intentions to get much done. The book follows his defeats and defiances, seeing him fall helpless from one mess to another. Its ending is a poignant comment on the man's state of mind, and had a lasting effect on me when I first read it. 12 years later I read it again, and even though I knew what was coming I felt the same thing.

An astounding book, please ... Read More:
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Used Price: £6.67

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.Humboldt's Gift (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics)

by: Saul Bellow

June 26, 1997
This is a great book, but beware prospective purchasers! I bought this edition specifically because it is advertised as having an introduction by Martin Amis, who is my favourite writer and Saul Bellow's greatest fan, but in fact this edition does not have an introduction of any sort. A little more work by amazon to get their facts right would be nice.
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.Henderson the Rain King

by: Saul Bellow

1966-09
This is a great book, but beware prospective purchasers! I bought this edition specifically because it is advertised as having an introduction by Martin Amis, who is my favourite writer and Saul Bellow's greatest fan, but in fact this edition does not have an introduction of any sort. A little more work by amazon to get their facts right would be nice.
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.Dangling Man

by: Saul Bellow

September 27, 2007
Sometimes the author of a dazzling first novel is never again to scale such heights. There are others for whom their premier work was either a run-in for better things or whose writing continued to mature over the years. When Dangling Man was published it must have been clear that here was a great writer already, and one who went on to even finer achievements (The Adventures of Augie March, Herzog, Humboldt's Gift, etc.). It is an extraordinarily accomplished work and Saul Bellow was indeed to become one of North America's greatest writers.
A young man has quit his job in anticipation of being drafted quickly into the War but bureaucratic inertia or incompetence leaves him waiting for his papers alone in a room in Chicago in mid-winter where, financially supported ... Read More:
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Used Price: £3.98

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.The Victim (Penguin Modern Classics)

by: Saul Bellow

January 31, 2008
Sometimes the author of a dazzling first novel is never again to scale such heights. There are others for whom their premier work was either a run-in for better things or whose writing continued to mature over the years. When Dangling Man was published it must have been clear that here was a great writer already, and one who went on to even finer achievements (The Adventures of Augie March, Herzog, Humboldt's Gift, etc.). It is an extraordinarily accomplished work and Saul Bellow was indeed to become one of North America's greatest writers.
A young man has quit his job in anticipation of being drafted quickly into the War but bureaucratic inertia or incompetence leaves him waiting for his papers alone in a room in Chicago in mid-winter where, financially supported ... Read More:
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Used Price: £4.63

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.Henderson the Rain King (Penguin Modern Classics)

by: Saul Bellow

October 25, 2007
A case of... methinks?
Occasionally genuinely amusing and unique in its approach, but more often than not obtuse and vague in its intentions. A real struggle to finish. Has dated greatly in comparison to the Roths and Updikes of the same period.
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Used Price: £2.20

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.Herzog

by: Saul Bellow

April 26, 1984
This novel starts with a ferociously strong image, then moves us into the mind of Moses Herzog. Herzog is a failing professor with an unfaithful second wife, a treacherous best friend, unwritten books and theses which remind him of his failings. Also, in a bizarrely wonderful twist, we find that Herzog writes letters avidly, even compulsively. These are largely to dead people, either relatives or historical figures he has never met. Also mathematicians - he writes to Euclid and points out why his theories don't add up.

The novel also contains a profound and bitter sense of betrayal, Herzog's as his marriage fails and his child whisked from him, Bellow's as similar events in his life mirrored the plot.

This is Bellow's most autobiographical work, including ... Read More:
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Used Price: £0.01

Average Rating:

.Henderson the Rain King (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics)

by: Saul Bellow

October 28, 1999
A case of... methinks?
Occasionally genuinely amusing and unique in its approach, but more often than not obtuse and vague in its intentions. A real struggle to finish. Has dated greatly in comparison to the Roths and Updikes of the same period.
>>See More Reviews & Details on Henderson the Rain King (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics)

Used Price: £3.39