{"id":741,"date":"2015-11-15T08:10:17","date_gmt":"2015-11-15T08:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/repeatright.com\/engine\/?p=741"},"modified":"2018-10-09T04:46:26","modified_gmt":"2018-10-09T04:46:26","slug":"bellow-saul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.repeatright.com\/engine\/bellow-saul\/","title":{"rendered":"BELLOW, Saul"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453315804311{margin-top: -40px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1449531588223-e020d87d-f7dd094f-cf635381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cA great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Saul Bellow<\/strong>, Canadian-American author<\/p>\n

To Jerusalem and Back: A Personal Account<\/em> (1976) New York, NY: Penguin Books, p. 127<\/p>\n

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Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Essay. Book reflects Bellow\u2019s accounts of his travel and impressions during a visit to Israel in 1975]:<\/p>\n

\u201cI am, if anything, surprised at myself and at my own assumptions. A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep<\/span>.\u201d (pp. 126-127)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ISBN” tab_id=”1449531589797-29580b31-8c50094f-cf635381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

 <\/p>\n

Source<\/em><\/span><\/strong>: Library – To Jerusalem and Back <\/em>(1976) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 014007273X<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315829087-ce67c619-0fbc5381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cA<\/strong>rt has something to do with the achievement of stillness in the midst of chaos. A stillness that characterizes prayer, too, and the eye of the storm. I think that art has something to do with an arrest of attention in the midst of distraction.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Saul Bellow<\/strong>, Canadian-American author<\/p>\n

\u201cSaul Bellow, The Art of Fiction No. 37\u201d (Winter 1966) Interview with Gordon Lloyd Harper, The Paris Review<\/em>, No. 36, New York: The Paris Review [no page number(s) in online edition]; online via The Paris Review, www.theparisreview.org<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1453315829475-7c82a017-1e625381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong>: [Interview \u2013 excerpt of Bellow\u2019s response to the question, \u201cYou\u2019ve mentioned the distractive character of modern life. Would this be most intense in the city?]\n

I wonder whether there will ever be enough tranquility under modern circumstances to allow our contemporary Wordsworth to recollect anything. I feel that art has something to do with the achievement of stillness in the midst of chaos. A stillness that characterizes prayer, too, and the eye of the storm. I think that art has something to do with an arrest of attention in the midst of distraction<\/span>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source note<\/em><\/strong>: Per interviewer Gordon Lloyd Harper, the interview discussions began in May 1965 and were completed over several weeks in September and October 1965.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1453315829682-63e8fade-cf4c5381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

 <\/p>\n

Source link<\/span><\/strong><\/em>: \u201cSaul Bellow, The Art of Fiction No. 37\u201d (Winter 1966) online via The Paris Review: http:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/interviews\/4405\/the-art-of-fiction-no-37-saul-bellow<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453316221301{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315828001-b5e2e52e-ea1e5381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cBoredom is the conviction that you can\u2019t change.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Saul Bellow<\/strong>, Canadian-American author<\/p>\n

The Adventures of Augie March <\/em>(1953) New York: Penguin, 1981 edition, p. 504<\/p>\n

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Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong>: [Fiction]\n

\u201cBoredom starts with useless effort. You have shortcomings and aren\u2019t what you should be? Boredom is the conviction that you can’t change.<\/span> You begin to worry about loss of variety in your character and the uncomplimentary comparison with others in your secret mind, and this makes you feel your own tiresomeness.”\u00a0 (p. 504)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ISBN” tab_id=”1453315828572-dac97b48-68e05381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Source<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Library – The Adventures of Augie March <\/em>(1953) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 0-14-00-7272-1<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1449531591105-7edf5f39-feaa094f-cf635381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cEverybody needs his memories. They keep the wolf of insignificance from the door.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Saul Bellow<\/strong>, Canadian-American author<\/p>\n

Mr. Sammler\u2019s Planet<\/em> (1970) New York: Penguin Books, 1977, p. 190; online via Open Library [free subscription service] openlibrary.org<\/a><\/p>\n

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Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong>: [Fictional dialogue]\n

\u201cI like such stories. What did he say?\u201d \u201cNot a word. He just nodded his head and took the dime. He stuck it in his pocket and went back to his bigger pals. I guess he felt he had earned it on the ice. It was his fair reward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI see you have these recollections.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I need them. Everybody needs his memories. They keep the wolf of insignificance from the door.<\/span>\u201d (p. 190)<\/p>\n

Source note<\/em><\/strong>: From the Mr. Sammler\u2019s Planet<\/em> publisher notes: \u201cThis book originally appeared in the Atlantic Monthly<\/em> in a different form.\u201d<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1449531592891-f39e055b-a66e094f-cf635381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

 <\/p>\n

Source link<\/em><\/span><\/strong>: Library \u2013 Mr. Sammler\u2019s Planet<\/em> (1970) online via Open Library [free subscription service]: https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/mrsammlersplane00bell#page\/190\/mode\/2up\/search\/wolf+of+insignificance<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453316221301{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315828001-b5e2e52e-ea1e5381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cG<\/strong>oodness is achieved not in a vacuum, but in the company of other men, attended by love.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Saul Bellow<\/strong>, Canadian-American author<\/p>\n

Dangling Man<\/em> (1944) New American Library, February 1965 edition, p. 61<\/p>\n

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Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong>: [Fiction]\n

“Through them he is connected with the best part of mankind. He feels this and he can never be isolated, left aside. He has a community. I have this six-sided box. And goodness is achieved not in a vacuum, but in the company of other men, attended by love.<\/span>\u201d (p. 61)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ID” tab_id=”1453315828572-dac97b48-68e05381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Source<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Library \u2013 Dangling Man<\/em> (1944|1965 New American Library ed.) Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) No. 890299<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1449531591105-7edf5f39-feaa094f-cf635381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cImagination is a force of nature. Is this not enough to make a person full of ecstasy? Imagination, imagination, imagination. It converts to actual. It sustains, it alters, it redeems!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Saul Bellow<\/strong>, Canadian-American author<\/p>\n

Henderson the Rain King<\/em> (1959) New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1976 edition, p. 271<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1449531591631-43861bc7-da28094f-cf635381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong>: [Fiction]\n

\u201cAll human accomplishment has this same origin, identically. Imagination is a force of<\/span><\/p>\n

nature. Is this not enough to make a person full of ecstasy? Imagination, imagination, imagination. It converts to<\/span><\/p>\n

actual. It sustains, it alters, it redeems!<\/span>\u201d (p. 271)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ISBN” tab_id=”1449531592891-f39e055b-a66e094f-cf635381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Library \u2013 Henderson the Rain King<\/em> (1959|1976 Penguin Books edition) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 0-14-007269-1<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453316221301{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315828001-b5e2e52e-ea1e5381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cIn an age of enormities, the emotions are naturally weakened. We are continually called upon to have feelings – about genocide, for instance, or about famine or the blowing up of passenger planes \u2014 and we are all aware that we are incapable of reacting appropriately. A guilty consciousness of emotional inadequacy or impotence makes people doubt their own human weight.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Saul Bellow<\/strong>, Canadian-American author<\/p>\n

“The Distracted Public” (1990) It All Adds Up: From the Dim Past to the Uncertain Future<\/em>, New York, NY: Viking, 1994, p. 156<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1453315828385-86abfac4-79bf5381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong>: [Non-fiction, essay]\n

\u201cIn an age of enormities, the emotions are naturally weakened. We are continually called upon to have feelings – about genocide, for instance, or about famine or the blowing up of passenger planes \u2014 and we are all aware that we are incapable of reacting appropriately. A guilty consciousness of emotional inadequacy or impotence makes people doubt their own human weight.<\/span> This is not to say that fundamental feelings, the moral sentiments so long bred into civilized peoples, have been wiped out altogether, but the sentiments have obviously been unable to keep up with the abominations that have been visited upon us, with the cruelties and crimes of this century.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Source<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Library – It All Adds Up: From the Dim Past to the Uncertain Future <\/em>(1994) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 0-670-85331-3<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1449531591105-7edf5f39-feaa094f-cf635381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cIn the greatest confusion there is still an open channel to the soul. It may be difficult to find because by midlife it is overgrown, and some of the wildest thickets that surround it grow out of what we describe as our education. But the channel is always there, and it is our business to keep it open, to have access to the deepest part of ourselves.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Saul Bellow<\/strong>, Canadian-American author<\/p>\n

Foreword (1987) The Closing of the American Mind<\/em>, author Allan Bloom, New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, May 1988 edition, p. 16<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1449531591631-43861bc7-da28094f-cf635381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong>: [Book foreword]\n

\u201cIn the greatest confusion there is still an open channel to the soul. It may be difficult to find because by midlife it is overgrown, and some of the wildest thickets that surround it grow out of what we describe as our education. But the channel is always there, and it is our business to keep it open, to have access to the deepest part of ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ISBN” tab_id=”1449531592891-f39e055b-a66e094f-cf635381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Library \u2013 The Closing of the American Mind<\/em> (1987|1988 Simon & Schuster) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 0-671-65715-1<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453316221301{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315828001-b5e2e52e-ea1e5381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cL<\/strong>osing a parent is something like driving through a plate-glass window. You didn\u2019t know it was there until it shattered, and then for years to come you\u2019re picking up the pieces \u2013 down to the last glassy splinter.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Saul Bellow<\/strong>, Canadian-American author<\/p>\n

Letter to Martin Amis (13 March 1996)<\/p>\n

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Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong>: [Letter to friend & fellow author Martin Amis. Amis had lost his father, Kingsley Amis, in October 1995.]\n

\u201cLast Saturday I attended a memorial service for Eleanor Clark, the widow of R.P. Warren. I found myself saying to her daughter Rosanna that losing a parent is something like driving through a plate-glass window. You didn\u2019t know it was there until it shattered, and then for years to come you\u2019re picking up the pieces \u2013 down to the last glassy splinter.<\/span>\u201d<\/p>\n

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Source<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Library \u2013\u00a0Saul Bellow: Letters<\/em> (13 Mar. 1996)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1449531591105-7edf5f39-feaa094f-cf635381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cOnly art penetrates what pride, passion, intelligence and habit erect on all sides – the seeming realities of the world. There is another reality, the genuine one, which we lose sight of. This other reality is always sending us hints, which without art, we can\u2019t receive.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Saul Bellow<\/strong>, Canadian-American author<\/p>\n

Nobel Lecture (12 December 1976) Stockholm, Sweden; transcript from Nobel Lectures, Literature 1968-1980<\/em>, eds. Tore Fr\u00e4ngsmyr & Sture All\u00e9n, Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Co., 1993; online via Nobel Media AB; online via Nobel Prize, www.nobelprize.org<\/a>
\n<\/em><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1449531591631-43861bc7-da28094f-cf635381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Nobel Lecture. Bellow received the 1976 Nobel Prize in Literature \u201cfor the human understanding and subtle analysis of contemporary culture that are combined in his work.\u201d]\n

\u201cOnly art penetrates what pride, passion, intelligence and habit erect on all sides – the seeming realities of the world. There is another reality, the genuine one, which we lose sight of. This other reality is always sending us hints, which without art, we can\u2019t receive. Proust calls these hints our \u201ctrue impressions.\u201d The true impressions, our persistent intuitions, will, without art, be hidden from us and we will be left with nothing but a \u201cterminology for practical ends which we falsely call life.\u201d<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1449531592891-f39e055b-a66e094f-cf635381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

 <\/p>\n

Source link<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: \u201cSaul Bellow \u2013 Nobel Lecture\u201d (12 Dec. 1976) online via Nobel Media AB: https:\/\/www.nobelprize.org\/nobel_prizes\/literature\/laureates\/1976\/bellow-lecture.html<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453316221301{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315828001-b5e2e52e-ea1e5381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cNew York makes one think of the collapse of civilization, about Sodom and Gomorrah, the end of the world. The end wouldn\u2019t come as a surprise here. Many people already bank on it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Saul Bellow<\/strong>, Canadian-American author<\/p>\n

Mr. Sammler\u2019s Planet<\/em> (1970) New York: Penguin Books, 1977, p. 304; online via Open Library [free subscription service] openlibrary.org<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1453315828385-86abfac4-79bf5381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong>: [Fictional dialogue, chapter VI]\n

\u201cPerhaps if we were in India or Finland we might not be in quite the same mood. New York makes one think of the collapse of civilization, about Sodom and Gomorrah, the end of the world. The end wouldn\u2019t come as a surprise here. Many people already bank on it.<\/span>\u201d (p. 304)<\/p>\n

Source note<\/em><\/strong>: From the Mr. Sammler\u2019s Planet<\/em> publisher notes: \u201cThis book originally appeared in the Atlantic Monthly in a different form.\u201d<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

Source link<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Library \u2013 Mr. Sammler\u2019s Planet<\/em> (1970) online via Open Library [free subscription service]: https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/mrsammlersplane00bell#page\/304\/mode\/2up\/search\/sodom<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1449531591105-7edf5f39-feaa094f-cf635381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cThe only real distinction at this dangerous moment in human history and cosmic development has nothing to do with medals and ribbons. Not to fall asleep is distinguished. Everything else is mere popcorn.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Saul Bellow<\/strong>, Canadian-American author<\/p>\n

Humboldt\u2019s Gift<\/em> (1975) New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1996 edition, p. 283<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1449531591631-43861bc7-da28094f-cf635381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong>: [Fiction]\n

\u201cNothing but grief had ever come of my being honored by the French. Well, that would have to pass. The only real distinction at this dangerous moment in human history and cosmic development has nothing to do with medals and ribbons. Not to fall asleep is distinguished. Everything else is mere popcorn.<\/span>\u201d (p. 283)<\/p>\n

Source note<\/em><\/strong>: From the Humbolt\u2019s Gift<\/em> publishing & copyright page notes: “Portions of this novel first appeared in Esquire<\/em>, The New York Review of Books<\/em>, and Playboy<\/em>.”<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ISBN” tab_id=”1449531592891-f39e055b-a66e094f-cf635381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Library \u2013 Humboldt\u2019s Gift<\/em> (1975 | 1996 Penguin Books) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 0-670-38655-3<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453316221301{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315828001-b5e2e52e-ea1e5381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cUnexpected intrusions of beauty. This is what life is.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Saul Bellow<\/strong>, Canadian-American author<\/p>\n

Herzog<\/em> (1964) New York, NY: Viking Press, p. 218<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1453315828385-86abfac4-79bf5381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong>: [Fiction]\n

\u201cHe touched the almost homogeneous whiteness with his fingertips and breathed in the water odors and the subtle stink rising from the throat of the waste pipe. Unexpected intrusions of beauty. That is what life is.<\/span>\u201d (p. 218)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ISBN” tab_id=”1453315828572-dac97b48-68e05381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source<\/em><\/strong><\/span>:\u00a0Library \u2013 Herzog<\/em> (1964) Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) No. 279707<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1449531591105-7edf5f39-feaa094f-cf635381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cWe take foreigners to be incomplete Americans \u2013 convinced that we must help and hasten their evolution.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Saul Bellow<\/strong>, Canadian-American author<\/p>\n

\u201cA Second Half Life\u201d (January\/February 1991) Part II of interview with Bostonia <\/em>magazine, reprint in Saul Bellow, It All Adds Up: From the Dim Past to the Uncertain Future<\/em>, copy ed. Marjorie Shain Horvitz, New York: Viking Penguin, 1994, Part Six, p. 324; online via Open Library [free subscription service] openlibrary.org<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1449531591631-43861bc7-da28094f-cf635381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong>: [From a conversation with Bostonia<\/em> magazine. Bellow\u2019s interviews with the magazine were published in two parts, the first segment, \u201cA Half Life,\u201d (also included in the It All Adds Up<\/em> text) was published in the magazine\u2019s November\/December 1990 issue. The quote shown here is from \u201cA Second Half Life,\u201d published in Bostonia\u2019s January\/February 1991 issue.]\n

\u201cThe immediate American surroundings are so absorbing, so overwhelming. Because our minds are all over the place, we tend to forget that America, like Russia, is not a country, merely, but a world unto itself.<\/p>\n

It has always been difficult for us to imagine life on premises different from our own. We take foreigners to be incomplete Americans \u2013 convinced that we must help and hasten their evolutio<\/span>n.\u201d (p. 324)<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1449531592891-f39e055b-a66e094f-cf635381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source link<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Library \u2013 Conversations with Saul Bellow <\/em>(1994) online via Open Library [free subscription service]: https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/italladdsupfromd00bell#page\/324\/mode\/2up\/search\/incomplete+Americans<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453316221301{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315828001-b5e2e52e-ea1e5381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cWhat is barely hinted at in other American cities is condensed and enlarged in New York.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Saul Bellow<\/strong>, Canadian-American author<\/p>\n

\u201cNew York: World-Famous Impossibility\u201d (1970) republished in There is Simply Too Much to Think About: Collected Nonfiction<\/em>, ed. Benjamin Taylor, New York, NY: Penguin Books, 2016 edition, p. 249<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1453315828385-86abfac4-79bf5381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong>: [Essay]\n

\u201cHow do Americans think of New York? That is perhaps like asking how Scotsmen feel about the Loch Ness monster. It is our legendary phenomenon, our great thing, our world-famous impossibility. Some seem to wish that it were nothing more than a persistent rumor. It is, however, as human things go, very real, superreal. What is barely hinted in other American cities is condensed and enlarged in New York.<\/span> There people feel themselves to be in the middle of things. That is certainly true and it is certainly odd.\u201d (p. 249)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ISBN” tab_id=”1453315828572-dac97b48-68e05381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source<\/em><\/strong><\/span>:\u00a0Library \u2013 There Is Simply Too Much to Think About: Collected Nonfiction<\/em> (2015|2016 Penguin edition) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 978-0-14-310804-7<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1449531591105-7edf5f39-feaa094f-cf635381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cWriters are greatly respected. The intelligent public is wonderfully patient with them, continues to read them and endures disappointment after disappointment, waiting to hear from art what it does not hear from theology, philosophy, social theory, and what it cannot hear from pure science. Out of the struggle at the center has come an immense, painful longing for a broader, more flexible, fuller, more coherent, more comprehensive account of what we human beings are, who we are, and what this life is for.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Saul Bellow<\/strong>, Canadian-American author<\/p>\n

Nobel Lecture (12 December 1976) Stockholm, Sweden, transcript from Nobel Lectures, Literature 1968-1980<\/em>, eds. Tore Fr\u00e4ngsmyr & Sture All\u00e9n, Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Co., 1993; online via Nobel Media AB; online via Nobel Prize, www.nobelprize.org<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1449531591631-43861bc7-da28094f-cf635381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Nobel Lecture. Bellow received the 1976 Nobel Prize in Literature \u201cfor the human understanding and subtle analysis of contemporary culture that are combined in his work.\u201d]\n

\u201cWriters are greatly respected. The intelligent public is wonderfully patient with them, continues to read them and endures disappointment after disappointment, waiting to hear from art what it does not hear from theology, philosophy, social theory, and what it cannot hear from pure science. Out of the struggle at the center has come an immense, painful longing for a broader, more flexible, fuller, more coherent, more comprehensive account of what we human beings are, who we are, and what this life is for.\u201d<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1449531592891-f39e055b-a66e094f-cf635381-89e50270-7d3a”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source link<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: \u201cSaul Bellow \u2013 Nobel Lecture\u201d (12 Dec. 1976) online via Nobel Media AB: http:\/\/www.nobelprize.org\/nobel_prizes\/literature\/laureates\/1976\/bellow-lecture.html<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]\n

Resources<\/h4>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css_animation=”none” el_class=”Wrapper-Author-Resources”]Learn more about Saul Bellow <\/strong><\/span>| Here are a few good places to find out more –<\/p>\n