Ideological tension in four novels by Saul Bellow

This study examines and evaluates critically four novels by Saul Bellow: Dangling Man, The Victim, Herzog and Mr Sammler's Planet. The emphasis is on the tension between certain aspects of modernity to which many of the characters are attracted, and the latent Jewishness of their creator. Bellow's Jewish heritage suggests alternate ways of being to those advocated by the enlightened thought of liberal Humanism, for example, or by one of its offshoots, Existentialism, or by "wasteland" ideologies. Bellow propounds certain ideas about the purpose of the novel in various articles, and these are discussed briefly in the introduction. His dismissal of the prophets of doom, those thinkers and writers who are pessimistic about the fate of humankind and the continued existence of the novel, is emphatic and certain. His alternative to apocalyptic thinking and writing presents a view both of life and of the role of the novelist in the twentieth century.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Department of English Language and Literature

Year dc:date.issued

1987

Author dc:creator

• Sacks, June Jocelyn

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Glenn, Ian

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/22152

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/22152