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Novels 1944–1953: Dangling Man / The Victim / The Adventures of Augie March
Winner of the Nobel Prize and a towering figure of 20th-century literature, Saul Bellow secured his place as one of the most distinctive and significant writers of the postwar era with the publication of his third novel, The Adventures of Augie March. This Library of America volume collects all three of Bellow’s early works, beginning with Dangling Man (1944), an incisive character study cast in the form of a diary that depicts the anguish and uncertainty of a man known only as Joseph. Expecting to be deployed to the war overseas, Joseph quits his job and finds himself increasingly on edge when his draft board defers his enlistment. The first of his many books to take place in Chicago, Dangling Man is a spare, haunting novel in which Bellow lays bare Joseph’s dilemma with rigorous precision and subtlety.
The Victim (1947), which Bellow described as “a novel whose theme is guilt,” is an unsettling moral parable. Left alone in New York City while his wife is visiting her family, Asa Leventhal is confronted by a former co-worker whom he can barely remember. What seems like a chance encounter evolves into an uncanny bond that threatens to ruin Leventhal’s life. As their relationship grows ever more volatile, Bellow stages a searching exploration of our obligations toward others.
In a radical change of direction, Bellow next wrote The Adventures of Augie March (1953). Its eponymous hero grows up in a bustling Chicago peopled by characters as large as vital as the city itself, then sets off on travels that lead him through the byways of love and the disappointments of a fast-vanishing youth. Exuberant, uninhibited, jazzy, infused with Yiddishisms and a panoply of Depression-era voices, Augie March is borne aloft by an ebullient sense of irony. Winner of the 1954 National Book Award and praised by writers and critics ranging from Alfred Kazin to Salman Rushdie and Martin Amis, The Adventures of Augie March has had a lasting impact that shows no sign of abating.
The Victim (1947), which Bellow described as “a novel whose theme is guilt,” is an unsettling moral parable. Left alone in New York City while his wife is visiting her family, Asa Leventhal is confronted by a former co-worker whom he can barely remember. What seems like a chance encounter evolves into an uncanny bond that threatens to ruin Leventhal’s life. As their relationship grows ever more volatile, Bellow stages a searching exploration of our obligations toward others.
In a radical change of direction, Bellow next wrote The Adventures of Augie March (1953). Its eponymous hero grows up in a bustling Chicago peopled by characters as large as vital as the city itself, then sets off on travels that lead him through the byways of love and the disappointments of a fast-vanishing youth. Exuberant, uninhibited, jazzy, infused with Yiddishisms and a panoply of Depression-era voices, Augie March is borne aloft by an ebullient sense of irony. Winner of the 1954 National Book Award and praised by writers and critics ranging from Alfred Kazin to Salman Rushdie and Martin Amis, The Adventures of Augie March has had a lasting impact that shows no sign of abating.
1029 pages, Hardcover
First published September 15, 2003
6 people are currently reading
376 people want to read
About the author
Saul Bellow
252 books1,956 followersNovels of Saul Bellow, Canadian-American writer, include
Dangling Man
in 1944 and
Humboldt's Gift
in 1975 and often concern an alienated individual within an indifferent society; he won the Nobel Prize of 1976 for literature.
People widely regard one most important Saul Bellow of the 20th century. Known for his rich prose, intellectual depth, and incisive character studies, Bellow explored themes of identity and the complexities of modern life with a distinct voice that fused philosophical insight and streetwise humor. Herzog , The Adventures of Augie March , and Mister Sammler’s Planet , his major works, earned critical acclaim and a lasting legacy.
Born in Lachine, Quebec, to Russian-Jewish immigrants, Saul Bellow at a young age moved with his family to Chicago, a city that shaped much worldview and a frequent backdrop in his fiction. He studied anthropology at the University of Chicago and later Northwestern, and his intellectual interests deeply informed him. Bellow briefly pursued graduate studies in anthropology, quickly turned, and first published.
Breakthrough of Saul Bellow came with The Adventures of Augie March , a sprawling, exuberance that in 1953 marked the national book award and a new direction in fiction. With energetic language and episodic structure, it introduced readers to a new kind of unapologetically intellectual yet deeply grounded hero in the realities of urban life. Over the following decades, Bellow produced a series of acclaimed that further cemented his reputation. In Herzog , considered his masterpiece in 1964, a psychological portrait of inner turmoil of a troubled academic unfolds through a series of unsent letters, while a semi-autobiographical reflection on art and fame gained the Pulitzer Prize.
In 1976, people awarded human understanding and subtle analysis of contemporary culture of Saul Bellow. He only thrice gained the national book award for fiction and also received the medal of arts and the lifetime achievement of the library of Congress.
Beyond fiction, Saul Bellow, a passionate essayist, taught. He held academic positions at institutions, such as the University of Minnesota, Princeton, and Boston University, and people knew his sharp intellect and lively classroom presence. Despite his stature, Bellow cared about ordinary people and infused his work with humor, moral reflection, and a deep appreciation of contradictions of life.
People can see influence of Saul Bellow in the work of countless followers. His uniquely and universally resonant voice ably combined the comic, the profound, the intellectual, and the visceral. He continued into his later years to publish his final Ravelstein in 2000.
People continue to read work of Saul Bellow and to celebrate its wisdom, vitality, and fearless examination of humanity in a chaotic world.
People widely regard one most important Saul Bellow of the 20th century. Known for his rich prose, intellectual depth, and incisive character studies, Bellow explored themes of identity and the complexities of modern life with a distinct voice that fused philosophical insight and streetwise humor. Herzog , The Adventures of Augie March , and Mister Sammler’s Planet , his major works, earned critical acclaim and a lasting legacy.
Born in Lachine, Quebec, to Russian-Jewish immigrants, Saul Bellow at a young age moved with his family to Chicago, a city that shaped much worldview and a frequent backdrop in his fiction. He studied anthropology at the University of Chicago and later Northwestern, and his intellectual interests deeply informed him. Bellow briefly pursued graduate studies in anthropology, quickly turned, and first published.
Breakthrough of Saul Bellow came with The Adventures of Augie March , a sprawling, exuberance that in 1953 marked the national book award and a new direction in fiction. With energetic language and episodic structure, it introduced readers to a new kind of unapologetically intellectual yet deeply grounded hero in the realities of urban life. Over the following decades, Bellow produced a series of acclaimed that further cemented his reputation. In Herzog , considered his masterpiece in 1964, a psychological portrait of inner turmoil of a troubled academic unfolds through a series of unsent letters, while a semi-autobiographical reflection on art and fame gained the Pulitzer Prize.
In 1976, people awarded human understanding and subtle analysis of contemporary culture of Saul Bellow. He only thrice gained the national book award for fiction and also received the medal of arts and the lifetime achievement of the library of Congress.
Beyond fiction, Saul Bellow, a passionate essayist, taught. He held academic positions at institutions, such as the University of Minnesota, Princeton, and Boston University, and people knew his sharp intellect and lively classroom presence. Despite his stature, Bellow cared about ordinary people and infused his work with humor, moral reflection, and a deep appreciation of contradictions of life.
People can see influence of Saul Bellow in the work of countless followers. His uniquely and universally resonant voice ably combined the comic, the profound, the intellectual, and the visceral. He continued into his later years to publish his final Ravelstein in 2000.
People continue to read work of Saul Bellow and to celebrate its wisdom, vitality, and fearless examination of humanity in a chaotic world.
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December 16, 2024
Saul Bellow In The Library Of America
Saul Bellow (1915 -- 2005) was born in Canada but was smuggled into the United States at the age of 9 by his bootlegging father. He spent his youth on the poorer Jewish streets of Chicago. Much of Bellow's writing is autobiographical in character and combines his rough-and-tumble early city life with his great erudition and thoughtfulness. Among much other recognition, Bellow received three National Book Awards, a Pulitzer Prize, and the Nobel Prize in 1976.
The Library of America has published two volumes of Bellow's novels, the first of which includes the three novels written between 1944 and 1953 and the second of which includes three novels written between 1956 -- 1964, including "Seize the Day", "Henderson the Rain King", and "Herzog". I am reviewing the earlier volume here which includes "Dangling Man", "The Victim", and "The Adventures of Augie March."
When he became famous, Bellow distanced himself from his first two novels, describing "Dangling Man" as his M.A. thesis and "The Victim" as his Ph.D. But these novels are worth reading in themselves and in showing how Bellow both developed the themes in these early works while also breaking away from them. The two early books are studies of alienation and loneliness in an urban environment, pitting the "outsider" against the broader "society." They are heavily influenced by Dostoevsky and by existentialism. In "Augie March" Bellow emphasizes humanism, exuberance, and the ability each person has in determining the course of his or her life.
"Dangling Man" (1944) is a short novel told in the form of the diary entries of its protagonist, Joseph. The novel sold poorly but marked the beginning of Bellow's high reputation with literary critics. It tells the story of a young man waiting for induction into the service. The induction has been deferred because of draft board mistakes and because of Joseph's status as a Canadian. During the time Joseph is left "dangling" he loses his job and is supported by his wife Iva. Although Iva encourages her husband to use the time given to him to further his strong interests in reading and writing, Joseph is unable to do so. He stays alone in his room for long periods, quarrels with his wife, family, and friends, and carries on an affair. Joseph seems to accept the necessity of the war effort and wants to come to terms with American society and its commercialism. Yet he remains an outsider. When the call to induction comes finally, Joseph responds with alacrity and relief, leaving behind a possibly failing relationship with his wife. The novel speaks to me about the difficulties of individual freedom and of being alone with oneself.
In "The Victim" (1947), Bellow examines loneliness and alienation in New York City following WW II. This novel again sold poorly, but it was made into a play which ran off-Broadway for a brief time in 1952. The protagonist is a Jewish man, Asa Leventhal, who works as an editor and is estranged from his family. His wife is out of town during a hot summer, leaving Asa alone. Leventhal is increasingly bothered and stalked by an old acquaintance, Allbee, who believes Leventhal was responsible for getting him fired and for his descent into poverty when Leventhal allegedly retaliated for Allbee's anti-Semitic remarks. Besides his increasing difficulties with Allbee, Leventhal becomes involved in the life of his Catholic and Italian sister-in-law whose young son is dying. "The Victim" is a story of guilt and paranoia with considerable emphasis on the strength of anti-Semitism in post-war America. The novel is tightly if formulaically constructed.
In the sprawling, exuberant picaresque novel "The Adventures of Augie March" (1953) Bellow found his own voice and received the first of this three National Book Awards. The book is told in the voice of its narrator, Augie, and it spans Augie's early life in Depression-era Chicago to Augie's mid-life following WW II. Much of the book involves Augie's relationship with his older brother, Simon, who is first in his high school class, marries into a wealthy family, and becomes highly successful. But Augie must find his own way. His family also includes an old woman who lives with the family and who functions as its "grandmother" or matriarch, a weak mother who was abandoned early by her husband and who Augie never sees, and a feeble-minded brother, George.
At the outset of his story, Augie proclaims himself "an American, Chicago born", and he reflects that the story of his wanderings and experiences will illustrate the pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus's dictum that "character is fate." Augie has a series of long and rollicking adventures, legitimate and illegitimate, beginning with his work for a scheming Chicago insurance man and swindler named Einhorn. Later, he helps his brother Simon who has become the owner of a coal-yard. Augie meets and has affairs with many women of varied social backgrounds. He studies and reads voraciously but never finishes college. Augie's wanderings take him to Mexico in the company of an eccentric wealthy woman, with whom he is in love, for whom Augie trains an eagle in an futile effort to catch lizards. During WW II, Augie enlists in the Merchant Marine and, when his ship is torpedoed, he spends days adrift in the mid-Atlantic with a crazy scientist. Ultimately, Augie marries one of his flames, an actress named Stella, and seems to learn something of the nature of love. His life still remains an adventure and an unfinished project.
A small incident illustrates the humanistic character of Augie March and the hope it offers for the individual. Late in the book, in post-War Italy, Augie meets an impoverished Italian woman who offers to show him sites for a fee. Augie says he does not want a guide, because "people" come to him all the time; and he offers the woman a small sum. The woman responds" "People! But I am not other people. You should realize that. I am.... This is happening to me." (p. 974) Throughout this book, Bellow offers a vision of the individual and his or her value. Augie's life, in large scale, and the Italian woman whom I have discussed in small scale, show that people can fight and succeed and make something of life that they want. The book is a melange consisting of a vision of America and its promise, of taking and making one's opportunities in life, and of the value of literature and thought in making life worth living. "Augie March" is a diffuse wordy book full of both street-toughness and long philosophical reflections. If not the great American novel, it remains an extraordinary book.
This LOA edition includes sparse notes to the texts prepared by James Wood together with a useful chronology. It offers an excellent way to read the early works of a great American novelist.
Robin Friedman
Saul Bellow (1915 -- 2005) was born in Canada but was smuggled into the United States at the age of 9 by his bootlegging father. He spent his youth on the poorer Jewish streets of Chicago. Much of Bellow's writing is autobiographical in character and combines his rough-and-tumble early city life with his great erudition and thoughtfulness. Among much other recognition, Bellow received three National Book Awards, a Pulitzer Prize, and the Nobel Prize in 1976.
The Library of America has published two volumes of Bellow's novels, the first of which includes the three novels written between 1944 and 1953 and the second of which includes three novels written between 1956 -- 1964, including "Seize the Day", "Henderson the Rain King", and "Herzog". I am reviewing the earlier volume here which includes "Dangling Man", "The Victim", and "The Adventures of Augie March."
When he became famous, Bellow distanced himself from his first two novels, describing "Dangling Man" as his M.A. thesis and "The Victim" as his Ph.D. But these novels are worth reading in themselves and in showing how Bellow both developed the themes in these early works while also breaking away from them. The two early books are studies of alienation and loneliness in an urban environment, pitting the "outsider" against the broader "society." They are heavily influenced by Dostoevsky and by existentialism. In "Augie March" Bellow emphasizes humanism, exuberance, and the ability each person has in determining the course of his or her life.
"Dangling Man" (1944) is a short novel told in the form of the diary entries of its protagonist, Joseph. The novel sold poorly but marked the beginning of Bellow's high reputation with literary critics. It tells the story of a young man waiting for induction into the service. The induction has been deferred because of draft board mistakes and because of Joseph's status as a Canadian. During the time Joseph is left "dangling" he loses his job and is supported by his wife Iva. Although Iva encourages her husband to use the time given to him to further his strong interests in reading and writing, Joseph is unable to do so. He stays alone in his room for long periods, quarrels with his wife, family, and friends, and carries on an affair. Joseph seems to accept the necessity of the war effort and wants to come to terms with American society and its commercialism. Yet he remains an outsider. When the call to induction comes finally, Joseph responds with alacrity and relief, leaving behind a possibly failing relationship with his wife. The novel speaks to me about the difficulties of individual freedom and of being alone with oneself.
In "The Victim" (1947), Bellow examines loneliness and alienation in New York City following WW II. This novel again sold poorly, but it was made into a play which ran off-Broadway for a brief time in 1952. The protagonist is a Jewish man, Asa Leventhal, who works as an editor and is estranged from his family. His wife is out of town during a hot summer, leaving Asa alone. Leventhal is increasingly bothered and stalked by an old acquaintance, Allbee, who believes Leventhal was responsible for getting him fired and for his descent into poverty when Leventhal allegedly retaliated for Allbee's anti-Semitic remarks. Besides his increasing difficulties with Allbee, Leventhal becomes involved in the life of his Catholic and Italian sister-in-law whose young son is dying. "The Victim" is a story of guilt and paranoia with considerable emphasis on the strength of anti-Semitism in post-war America. The novel is tightly if formulaically constructed.
In the sprawling, exuberant picaresque novel "The Adventures of Augie March" (1953) Bellow found his own voice and received the first of this three National Book Awards. The book is told in the voice of its narrator, Augie, and it spans Augie's early life in Depression-era Chicago to Augie's mid-life following WW II. Much of the book involves Augie's relationship with his older brother, Simon, who is first in his high school class, marries into a wealthy family, and becomes highly successful. But Augie must find his own way. His family also includes an old woman who lives with the family and who functions as its "grandmother" or matriarch, a weak mother who was abandoned early by her husband and who Augie never sees, and a feeble-minded brother, George.
At the outset of his story, Augie proclaims himself "an American, Chicago born", and he reflects that the story of his wanderings and experiences will illustrate the pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus's dictum that "character is fate." Augie has a series of long and rollicking adventures, legitimate and illegitimate, beginning with his work for a scheming Chicago insurance man and swindler named Einhorn. Later, he helps his brother Simon who has become the owner of a coal-yard. Augie meets and has affairs with many women of varied social backgrounds. He studies and reads voraciously but never finishes college. Augie's wanderings take him to Mexico in the company of an eccentric wealthy woman, with whom he is in love, for whom Augie trains an eagle in an futile effort to catch lizards. During WW II, Augie enlists in the Merchant Marine and, when his ship is torpedoed, he spends days adrift in the mid-Atlantic with a crazy scientist. Ultimately, Augie marries one of his flames, an actress named Stella, and seems to learn something of the nature of love. His life still remains an adventure and an unfinished project.
A small incident illustrates the humanistic character of Augie March and the hope it offers for the individual. Late in the book, in post-War Italy, Augie meets an impoverished Italian woman who offers to show him sites for a fee. Augie says he does not want a guide, because "people" come to him all the time; and he offers the woman a small sum. The woman responds" "People! But I am not other people. You should realize that. I am.... This is happening to me." (p. 974) Throughout this book, Bellow offers a vision of the individual and his or her value. Augie's life, in large scale, and the Italian woman whom I have discussed in small scale, show that people can fight and succeed and make something of life that they want. The book is a melange consisting of a vision of America and its promise, of taking and making one's opportunities in life, and of the value of literature and thought in making life worth living. "Augie March" is a diffuse wordy book full of both street-toughness and long philosophical reflections. If not the great American novel, it remains an extraordinary book.
This LOA edition includes sparse notes to the texts prepared by James Wood together with a useful chronology. It offers an excellent way to read the early works of a great American novelist.
Robin Friedman
October 13, 2025
The Victim by Saul Bellow, winner of The Nobel Prize for Literature, author of Herzog
http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/04/h... and at least three other novels that are on the lists of best books
10 out of 10
It is hard to say who The Victim is in this astounding novel, for we have Kirby Allbee who is clearly claiming that spot for himself, but the fact that he approaches Asa Leventhal – arguably the hero, or maybe better said the main character of the saga – and then harasses him throughout the story - oops, would that constitute a transgression on the spoiler alert rule, I mean I have not mentioned what happens and who has falls victim, I was just wondering about that, isn’t it, but maybe some would deduct an outcome…well, don’t, it is all relative, as it has just been emphasized – would make the latter a more likely injured party in this Game People Play, which incidentally is a classic of Psychology, written by wondrous Eric Berne http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/09/g...
Asa Leventhal is alone in New York, as his spouse, Mary, has gone to Baltimore to be with her now widowed mother, who has had to sell the house and is in the middle of a difficult transition, and as the man suffers from the absence of his wife, he will have to face…The Victim and this, I just realized is part of the humorous side of this narrative, where the suffering inflicts perhaps more pain on the one he picks on, because he is sure that he had been targeted and made to suffer, even if this is subject to debate and readers will find that Asa had had no intention to harm Kirby, when, during a job interview, he had lost his patience and responded in anger to the man that had the power to offer or deny the position, and because Kirby had recommended him, the boss would boot Allbee and thus the grudge.
In the first part, Asa receives a call from his sister-in-law, Elena, an Italian woman that had married his brother, Max, and she is asking for his urgent help, because one of her two sons is very sick, and her husband is away, working and trying to have all them move out of New York, when Leventhal is going out for this emergency, he hears his boss and the son-in-law discussing his departure and alleged lack of loyalty in anti-Semitic terms, as if ‘this is how they are, they stick to each other’ or words to that effect…
Indeed, this is one of the main themes of the saga, if not the most important one, for the antagonism between Asa and Allbee is the result of yet another anti-Semitic stand, and the latter is actually using prejudice, racism and the anti-Semitism that was prevalent – and clearly is in many segments of land in the world alas – to justify his hostility, the position he takes and attributes to Leventhal all manner of thoughts, attitudes, and keeps quoting from the holy texts, to abuse and serve his purpose ‘go forth and multiply’ is just one of the many things he says and he is sure that Asa had wanted to take revenge…
Some years back, the two had met at a party, where Allbee had mocked Dan Harkavy, a friend of Asa and a man of Hebrew descent, and showed his anti-Semitism there, and when Leventhal has that outcry of rage during an interview for which Allbee had recommended him, the latter is sure that this was just an orchestrated attempt to take revenge, with the knowledge that the boss would not accept this furious response and in his turn, he would take action against Kirby, who would be let go, if for this or another reason.
We doubt with Leventhal if it was not his drinking that did it, for when we meet him, Allbee is drunk and admits to having a problem with alcohol, if it attributes it to the state he is in, what Asa had done and also, to the death of his wife, who had been killed in a car accident, as she was driven by her brother, during her stay with the parents – Allbee had been separated, his spouse had gone to live with her parents, and he keeps lamenting this aspect, though he uses the money he received from her insurance policy to keep drinking and at one stage, Leventhal finds him with a woman – perhaps a whore, sex worker as we call that today, or just a stranger, it is not clear – in Leventhal’s own apartment.
However, it is hard, if not totally wrong to paint the two and other figures in this story with pure white and one hundred percent black, they are in fact complex, and though we loath Allbee for most of the or some time, he has some sides to him that allow for a different perspective, he is a man that has read books (and that is rare today, when seventy million Americans and countless others in different lands worship Absolute Idiots and thus show how limited and primitive they are…this is placed strategically here, where few, if any reach, since if placed in the first lines, there is still a [slim] chance that somebody will read it form that camp, and then enter a rage and comment on it…it has happened twice anyway) his pain at having lost his spouse seems genuine, he is near the bottom and then we now know that alcoholism is an addiction and a disease, which must be cured and not despised…
Asa Leventhal has made a mistake during his interview, but that has been a period in his life when he was very angry and frustrated, he lived on the edge, looking for a job in desperate circumstances, when it looked like he could face destitution as a pauper, and the fact that his clash would lead to the sacking of The Victim was not intentional, but still, even if accidentally, we could argue that he was responsible at least to some extent to what would happen to Allbee, and he would pay for it, because the latter shows up to confront the man he accuses of his whole ordeal, and though this is total nonsense, he would insist on retribution http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Eventually, Kirby would take money from Asa, and would come to live in his apartment, while the spouse is away and transform it into a pig sty almost, for he leaves it very dirty and he may even try the ultimate punishment against his host, who would slowly give in, trying to offer some compensation for his act, coming to terms with the fact that without knowing it, he had hurt the man who is harassing and abusing him, The Victim changes places with the one that had harmed him and we are challenged by this narrative where we see one and then the other showing vulnerability, attracting sympathy, only to change and then show a darker side
http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u...
http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/04/h... and at least three other novels that are on the lists of best books
10 out of 10
It is hard to say who The Victim is in this astounding novel, for we have Kirby Allbee who is clearly claiming that spot for himself, but the fact that he approaches Asa Leventhal – arguably the hero, or maybe better said the main character of the saga – and then harasses him throughout the story - oops, would that constitute a transgression on the spoiler alert rule, I mean I have not mentioned what happens and who has falls victim, I was just wondering about that, isn’t it, but maybe some would deduct an outcome…well, don’t, it is all relative, as it has just been emphasized – would make the latter a more likely injured party in this Game People Play, which incidentally is a classic of Psychology, written by wondrous Eric Berne http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/09/g...
Asa Leventhal is alone in New York, as his spouse, Mary, has gone to Baltimore to be with her now widowed mother, who has had to sell the house and is in the middle of a difficult transition, and as the man suffers from the absence of his wife, he will have to face…The Victim and this, I just realized is part of the humorous side of this narrative, where the suffering inflicts perhaps more pain on the one he picks on, because he is sure that he had been targeted and made to suffer, even if this is subject to debate and readers will find that Asa had had no intention to harm Kirby, when, during a job interview, he had lost his patience and responded in anger to the man that had the power to offer or deny the position, and because Kirby had recommended him, the boss would boot Allbee and thus the grudge.
In the first part, Asa receives a call from his sister-in-law, Elena, an Italian woman that had married his brother, Max, and she is asking for his urgent help, because one of her two sons is very sick, and her husband is away, working and trying to have all them move out of New York, when Leventhal is going out for this emergency, he hears his boss and the son-in-law discussing his departure and alleged lack of loyalty in anti-Semitic terms, as if ‘this is how they are, they stick to each other’ or words to that effect…
Indeed, this is one of the main themes of the saga, if not the most important one, for the antagonism between Asa and Allbee is the result of yet another anti-Semitic stand, and the latter is actually using prejudice, racism and the anti-Semitism that was prevalent – and clearly is in many segments of land in the world alas – to justify his hostility, the position he takes and attributes to Leventhal all manner of thoughts, attitudes, and keeps quoting from the holy texts, to abuse and serve his purpose ‘go forth and multiply’ is just one of the many things he says and he is sure that Asa had wanted to take revenge…
Some years back, the two had met at a party, where Allbee had mocked Dan Harkavy, a friend of Asa and a man of Hebrew descent, and showed his anti-Semitism there, and when Leventhal has that outcry of rage during an interview for which Allbee had recommended him, the latter is sure that this was just an orchestrated attempt to take revenge, with the knowledge that the boss would not accept this furious response and in his turn, he would take action against Kirby, who would be let go, if for this or another reason.
We doubt with Leventhal if it was not his drinking that did it, for when we meet him, Allbee is drunk and admits to having a problem with alcohol, if it attributes it to the state he is in, what Asa had done and also, to the death of his wife, who had been killed in a car accident, as she was driven by her brother, during her stay with the parents – Allbee had been separated, his spouse had gone to live with her parents, and he keeps lamenting this aspect, though he uses the money he received from her insurance policy to keep drinking and at one stage, Leventhal finds him with a woman – perhaps a whore, sex worker as we call that today, or just a stranger, it is not clear – in Leventhal’s own apartment.
However, it is hard, if not totally wrong to paint the two and other figures in this story with pure white and one hundred percent black, they are in fact complex, and though we loath Allbee for most of the or some time, he has some sides to him that allow for a different perspective, he is a man that has read books (and that is rare today, when seventy million Americans and countless others in different lands worship Absolute Idiots and thus show how limited and primitive they are…this is placed strategically here, where few, if any reach, since if placed in the first lines, there is still a [slim] chance that somebody will read it form that camp, and then enter a rage and comment on it…it has happened twice anyway) his pain at having lost his spouse seems genuine, he is near the bottom and then we now know that alcoholism is an addiction and a disease, which must be cured and not despised…
Asa Leventhal has made a mistake during his interview, but that has been a period in his life when he was very angry and frustrated, he lived on the edge, looking for a job in desperate circumstances, when it looked like he could face destitution as a pauper, and the fact that his clash would lead to the sacking of The Victim was not intentional, but still, even if accidentally, we could argue that he was responsible at least to some extent to what would happen to Allbee, and he would pay for it, because the latter shows up to confront the man he accuses of his whole ordeal, and though this is total nonsense, he would insist on retribution http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Eventually, Kirby would take money from Asa, and would come to live in his apartment, while the spouse is away and transform it into a pig sty almost, for he leaves it very dirty and he may even try the ultimate punishment against his host, who would slowly give in, trying to offer some compensation for his act, coming to terms with the fact that without knowing it, he had hurt the man who is harassing and abusing him, The Victim changes places with the one that had harmed him and we are challenged by this narrative where we see one and then the other showing vulnerability, attracting sympathy, only to change and then show a darker side
http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u...
September 27, 2013
I have wanted to read Saul Bellow for a number of years. Now I see why he ranks so high as a writer. I read 'Victim' from this collection.
How responsible are we for what happens to others? This theme runs through Victim in an interesting multi-faceted way. It also deals with how we can give over parts of our life to the control of others, through guilt and obsessing over situations.
There is much more said here, and the tension between Levanthal and Allbee runs unabated till the end.
This is a richly written story, I have found another author I love. I look forward to reading Herzog next.
How responsible are we for what happens to others? This theme runs through Victim in an interesting multi-faceted way. It also deals with how we can give over parts of our life to the control of others, through guilt and obsessing over situations.
There is much more said here, and the tension between Levanthal and Allbee runs unabated till the end.
This is a richly written story, I have found another author I love. I look forward to reading Herzog next.
February 14, 2015
DANGLING MAN (****)
In the old days, when we had a flat of our own, I read constantly. I was forever buying new books, faster, admittedly, than I could read them. But as long as they surrounded me they stood as guarantors of an extended life, far more precious and necessary than the one I was forced to lead daily. (4)
I have begun to notice that the more active the rest of the world becomes, the more slowly I move, and that my solitude increases in the same proportion as its racket and frenzy. (6)
There were human lives organized around these ways and houses, and that they, the houses, say, were the analogue, that what men created they also were, through some transcendent means, I could not bring myself to concede. There must be a difference, a quality that eluded me, somehow, a difference between things and persons and even between acts and persons. Otherwise the people who lived here were actually a reflection of the things they lived among. I had always striven to avoid blaming them. Was that not in effect behind my daily reading of the paper? In their businesses and politics, their taverns, movies, assaults, divorces, murders, I tried continually to find clear signs of their common humanity. (15)
“I don’t think I want to try to make an officer of myself.”
“Well, I don’t see why not,” said Amos. “Why not?”
“As i see it, the whole war’s a misfortune. I don’t want to raise myself through it.”
“But there have to be officers. Do you want to sit back and let some cluck do what you can do a thousand times better?”
“I’m used to that,” I said, shrugging. “That’s the case in many departments of life already. The Army’s no exception.” (44)
But what such a life as this incurs is the derangement of days, the leveling of occasions. I can’t answer for Iva, but for me it is certainly true that days have lost their distinctiveness. There were formerly baking days, washing days, days that began events and days that ended them. But now they are undistinguished, all equal, and it is difficult to tell Tuesday from Saturday. (57)
Yet we are, as a people, greatly concerned with perishability; an empire of iceboxes. And pet cats are flown hundreds of miles to be saved by rare serums; and country neighbors in Arkansas keep a month’s vigil night and day to save the life of a man stricken at ninety. (59)
Is it because he is an artist? I believe it is. Those acts of the imagination save him. But what about me? I have no talent for that sort of thing. My talent, if I have one at all, is for being a citizen, or what is today called, most apologetically, a good man. Is there some sort of personal effort I can substitute for the imagination?
That, I am unable to answer. (65)
I am no longer to be held accountable for myself. I am grateful for that. I am in other hands, relieved of self-determination, freedom canceled.
Hurray for regular hours!
And for the supervision of the spirit! (140)
++++
The Fall by Albert Camus / Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky / Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (without crime).
Note: the meaning of ‘A basso’ (page 58) is ‘down with’; besides, the correct spelling is ‘abbasso’.
THE VICTIM (****)
By autumn they were engaged, and Leventhal’s success amazed him. He felt that the harshness of his life had disfigured him, and that this disfigurement would be apparent to a girl like Mary and would repel her. He was not entirely sure of her, and, in fact, something terrible did happen a month after the engagement. Mary confessed that she found herself unable to break off an old attachment to another man, a married man. (155)
(The Eternal Husband by Fyodor Dostoevsky).
He kept the bathroom light burning all night. Somewhat ashamed of himself, he had yesterday closed the bathroom door before getting into bed, but he had left the light on. This was absurd, this feeling that he was threatened by something while he slept. (162)
(Ancestral sin or guilt.)
When they reached the lower hall, Allbee stopped and said, “You try to put all the blame on me, but you know it’s true that you’re to blame. You and you only. For everything. You ruined me. Ruined! Because that’s what I am, ruined! You’re the one that’s responsible. … “ (205)
“If you don’t mind, Asa, there’s one thing I have to point out that you haven’t learned. We’re not children. We’re men of the world. It’s almost a sin to be so innocent. Get next to yourself, boy, will you? You want the whole world to like you. There’re bound to be some people who don’t think well of you. As I do, for instance. Why, isn’t enough for you that some do? Why can’t you accept the fact that others never will? (213)
“Now I (=Allbee) that luck … there really is such a thing as luck and those who do and don’t have it. In the long run, I don’t know who’s better off. It must make things very unreal to have luck all the time. But it’s a blessing, in some things, and especially if it gives you the chance to make a choice. That doesn’t come very often, does it? For most people? No, it doesn’t. It’s hard to accept that, but we have to accept it. We don’t choose much. We don’t choose to be born, for example, and unless we commit suicide we don’t choose the time to die, either. But having a few choices in between makes you seem less of an accident to yourself. It makes you feel your life is necessary. (298)
(Free will.)
Allbee bent forward and laid his hand on the arm of Leventhal’s chair, and for a short space the two men looked at each other and Leventhal felt himself singularly drawn with a kind of affection. It oppressed him, it was repellent. He did not know what to make of it. Still he welcomed it, too.
(Master-slave dialectic / Hegel)
Dear Saul, I know, Dostoevsky was your buddy.
THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH
All the influences were lined up waiting for me. …
At this time, and later too, I had a very weak sense of consequences, and the old lady never succeeded in opening much of a way into my imagination with her warnings and predictions of what was preparing for me - work certificates, stockyards, shovel labor, penitentiary rockpiles, bread and water, and lifelong ignorance and degradation. She invoked all these, hotter and hotter, …
I want you to be a mensch. (430)
Well, now, who can really expect the daily facts to go, toil or prisons to go, oatmeal and laundry tickets and all the rest, and insist that all moments be raised to the greatest importance, demand that everyone breathe the pointy, star-furnished air at its highest difficulty, abolish all brick, vaultlike rooms, all dreariness, and live like prophets or gods? Why, everybody knows this triumphant life can only be periodic. So there’s a schism about it, some saying only this triumphant life is real and others that only the daily facts are. For me there was no debate, and I made speed into the former. (605)
I said, “I’m in the book business, as Simon told you.” I thought the old man must be able to pierce by strength of suspicion my crookery, all the oddity of Owens’ house and my friend there. What a book business could signify to him but starving Pentateuch peddlers with beards full of Polish lice and feet wrapped in sacking, I couldn’t fathom. (636)
During the chauffeurs’ and hikers’ strike he had squad cars to protect his two trucks from strikers who were dumping coal in the streets. I had to wait for his calls in the police station to tell the cops when a load was setting out from the yard, my first lawful sitting in such a place, moving from dark to lighter inside the great social protoplasm. (645)
I didn’t yet know what view I had of all this. It still wasn’t clear to me whether I would be for or against it. But then how does anybody form a decision to be against and persist against? When does he choose and when is he choose instead? This one hears voices; that one is a saint, a chieftain, an orator, a Horatius, a kamikazi; one says Ich kann nicht anders - so help me God! And why is it I who cannot do otherwise? Is there a secret assignment from mankind to some unfortunate person who can’t refuse? As if the great majority turned away from a thing it couldn’t permanently forsake and so named some person to remain faithful to it? With great difficulty somebody becomes exemplary, anyhow. (656)
You do all you can to humanize and familiarize the world, and suddenly it becomes more strange than ever. The living are not what they were, the dead die again and again, and at last for good.
I see this now. (710)
Everyone tries to create a world he can live in, and what he can’t use he often can’t see. But the real world is already created, and if your fabrication doesn’t correspond, then even if you feel noble and insist on there being something better than what people call reality, that better something needn’t try to exceed what, in its actuality, since we know it so little, may be very surprising. If a happy state of things, surprising; if miserable or tragic, no worse than we invent. (816)
Me, love’s servant? I wasn’t at all! And suddenly my heart felt ugly, I was sick of myself. I thought that my aim of being simple was just a fraud, that I wasn’t a bit goodhearted or affectionate, and I began to wish that Mexico from beyond the walls would come in and kill me and that I would be thrown in the bone dust and twisted, spiky crosses of the cemetery, for the insects and lizards. (841)
So on some of the golden afternoons by the dive where I sat on a bench in neglected pants and dirty shirt and three days of bristles, I had the inclination to start out and say, “O you creatures still above the ground, what are you up to! Even happiness and beauty is like a movie.” Many times I felt tears. Or again I’d be angry and want to holler. But while no other creature is reprimanded for its noise, for yelling, roaring, screaming, cawing, or braying, there is supposed to be more delicate relief for the human species. (852)
I had Padilla’s slogan of “Easy or not at all.” (881)
I’ll give you an example. I read about King Arthur’s Round Table when I was a kid, but what am I ever going to do about it? My heart was touched by sacrifice and pure attempts, so what should I do? Or take the Gospels. How are you supposed to put them to use? Why, they’re not utilizable! And then you go and pile on top of that more advice and information. Anything that just adds information that you can’t use is plain dangerous. Anyway, there’s too much of everything of this kind, that’s come home to me, too much history and culture to keep track off, too many details, too much news, too much example, too much influence, too many guys who tell you to be as they are, and all this hugeness, abundance, turbulence, Niagara Falls torrent. Which who is supposed to interpret? Me? I haven’t got that much head to master it all. I get carried away. It doesn’t give my feelings enough of a chance if I have to store up and become like an encyclopedia. Why, just as a question of time spent in getting prepared for life, look! a man could spend forty, fifty, sixty years like that inside the walls of his own being. And all great experience would only take place within those walls. And all achievements would stay within the walls of his being. And all high conversation would take place within those walls. And all glamour too. And even hate, monstrousness, enviousness, murder, would be inside them. This would be only a terrible, hideous dream about existing. It’s better to dig ditches and hit other guys with your shovel than die in the walls.” (902-3)
Dear Saul, I say: YES!
“You will understand, Mr. Mintouchian, if I tell you that I have always tried to become what I am. But it’s a frightening thing. Because what if what I am by nature isn’t good enough?” I was close to tears as I said it to him. “I suppose I better, anyway, give in and be it. I will never force the hand of fate to create a better Augie March, nor change the time to an age of gold.” (937)
Amor fati.
Why did I always have to fall among theoreticians! (956)
I felt settled and easy, my chest free and my fingers comfortable and open. And now here’s the thing. It takes a time like this for you to find out how sore your heart has been, and moreover, all the while you thought you were going around idle terribly hard work was taking place. Hard, hard work, excavation and digging, mining, moling through tunnels, heaving, pushing, moving rock, working, working, working, working, working, panting, hauling, hoisting. And none of this work is seen from the outside. It’s internally done. It happens because you are powerless and unable to get anywhere, to obtain justice or have requital, and therefore in yourself you labor, you wage and combat, settle scores, remember insults, fight, reply, blab, denounce, triumph, outwit, overcome, vindicate, cry, persist, absolve, die and rise again. All by yourself! Where is everybody? Inside your breast and skin, the entire cast. (979)
Brother! You never are through, you just think you are! (980)
I don’t know who this saint was who woke up, lifted his face, opened his mouth, and reported on his secret dream that blessedness covers the whole Creation but covers it thicker in some places than in others. Whoever he was, it’s my great weakness to respond to such dreams. This is the amor fati, that’s what it is, or mysterious adoration of what occurs. (983)
In the old days, when we had a flat of our own, I read constantly. I was forever buying new books, faster, admittedly, than I could read them. But as long as they surrounded me they stood as guarantors of an extended life, far more precious and necessary than the one I was forced to lead daily. (4)
I have begun to notice that the more active the rest of the world becomes, the more slowly I move, and that my solitude increases in the same proportion as its racket and frenzy. (6)
There were human lives organized around these ways and houses, and that they, the houses, say, were the analogue, that what men created they also were, through some transcendent means, I could not bring myself to concede. There must be a difference, a quality that eluded me, somehow, a difference between things and persons and even between acts and persons. Otherwise the people who lived here were actually a reflection of the things they lived among. I had always striven to avoid blaming them. Was that not in effect behind my daily reading of the paper? In their businesses and politics, their taverns, movies, assaults, divorces, murders, I tried continually to find clear signs of their common humanity. (15)
“I don’t think I want to try to make an officer of myself.”
“Well, I don’t see why not,” said Amos. “Why not?”
“As i see it, the whole war’s a misfortune. I don’t want to raise myself through it.”
“But there have to be officers. Do you want to sit back and let some cluck do what you can do a thousand times better?”
“I’m used to that,” I said, shrugging. “That’s the case in many departments of life already. The Army’s no exception.” (44)
But what such a life as this incurs is the derangement of days, the leveling of occasions. I can’t answer for Iva, but for me it is certainly true that days have lost their distinctiveness. There were formerly baking days, washing days, days that began events and days that ended them. But now they are undistinguished, all equal, and it is difficult to tell Tuesday from Saturday. (57)
Yet we are, as a people, greatly concerned with perishability; an empire of iceboxes. And pet cats are flown hundreds of miles to be saved by rare serums; and country neighbors in Arkansas keep a month’s vigil night and day to save the life of a man stricken at ninety. (59)
Is it because he is an artist? I believe it is. Those acts of the imagination save him. But what about me? I have no talent for that sort of thing. My talent, if I have one at all, is for being a citizen, or what is today called, most apologetically, a good man. Is there some sort of personal effort I can substitute for the imagination?
That, I am unable to answer. (65)
I am no longer to be held accountable for myself. I am grateful for that. I am in other hands, relieved of self-determination, freedom canceled.
Hurray for regular hours!
And for the supervision of the spirit! (140)
++++
The Fall by Albert Camus / Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky / Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (without crime).
Note: the meaning of ‘A basso’ (page 58) is ‘down with’; besides, the correct spelling is ‘abbasso’.
THE VICTIM (****)
By autumn they were engaged, and Leventhal’s success amazed him. He felt that the harshness of his life had disfigured him, and that this disfigurement would be apparent to a girl like Mary and would repel her. He was not entirely sure of her, and, in fact, something terrible did happen a month after the engagement. Mary confessed that she found herself unable to break off an old attachment to another man, a married man. (155)
(The Eternal Husband by Fyodor Dostoevsky).
He kept the bathroom light burning all night. Somewhat ashamed of himself, he had yesterday closed the bathroom door before getting into bed, but he had left the light on. This was absurd, this feeling that he was threatened by something while he slept. (162)
(Ancestral sin or guilt.)
When they reached the lower hall, Allbee stopped and said, “You try to put all the blame on me, but you know it’s true that you’re to blame. You and you only. For everything. You ruined me. Ruined! Because that’s what I am, ruined! You’re the one that’s responsible. … “ (205)
“If you don’t mind, Asa, there’s one thing I have to point out that you haven’t learned. We’re not children. We’re men of the world. It’s almost a sin to be so innocent. Get next to yourself, boy, will you? You want the whole world to like you. There’re bound to be some people who don’t think well of you. As I do, for instance. Why, isn’t enough for you that some do? Why can’t you accept the fact that others never will? (213)
“Now I (=Allbee) that luck … there really is such a thing as luck and those who do and don’t have it. In the long run, I don’t know who’s better off. It must make things very unreal to have luck all the time. But it’s a blessing, in some things, and especially if it gives you the chance to make a choice. That doesn’t come very often, does it? For most people? No, it doesn’t. It’s hard to accept that, but we have to accept it. We don’t choose much. We don’t choose to be born, for example, and unless we commit suicide we don’t choose the time to die, either. But having a few choices in between makes you seem less of an accident to yourself. It makes you feel your life is necessary. (298)
(Free will.)
Allbee bent forward and laid his hand on the arm of Leventhal’s chair, and for a short space the two men looked at each other and Leventhal felt himself singularly drawn with a kind of affection. It oppressed him, it was repellent. He did not know what to make of it. Still he welcomed it, too.
(Master-slave dialectic / Hegel)
Dear Saul, I know, Dostoevsky was your buddy.
THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH
All the influences were lined up waiting for me. …
At this time, and later too, I had a very weak sense of consequences, and the old lady never succeeded in opening much of a way into my imagination with her warnings and predictions of what was preparing for me - work certificates, stockyards, shovel labor, penitentiary rockpiles, bread and water, and lifelong ignorance and degradation. She invoked all these, hotter and hotter, …
I want you to be a mensch. (430)
Well, now, who can really expect the daily facts to go, toil or prisons to go, oatmeal and laundry tickets and all the rest, and insist that all moments be raised to the greatest importance, demand that everyone breathe the pointy, star-furnished air at its highest difficulty, abolish all brick, vaultlike rooms, all dreariness, and live like prophets or gods? Why, everybody knows this triumphant life can only be periodic. So there’s a schism about it, some saying only this triumphant life is real and others that only the daily facts are. For me there was no debate, and I made speed into the former. (605)
I said, “I’m in the book business, as Simon told you.” I thought the old man must be able to pierce by strength of suspicion my crookery, all the oddity of Owens’ house and my friend there. What a book business could signify to him but starving Pentateuch peddlers with beards full of Polish lice and feet wrapped in sacking, I couldn’t fathom. (636)
During the chauffeurs’ and hikers’ strike he had squad cars to protect his two trucks from strikers who were dumping coal in the streets. I had to wait for his calls in the police station to tell the cops when a load was setting out from the yard, my first lawful sitting in such a place, moving from dark to lighter inside the great social protoplasm. (645)
I didn’t yet know what view I had of all this. It still wasn’t clear to me whether I would be for or against it. But then how does anybody form a decision to be against and persist against? When does he choose and when is he choose instead? This one hears voices; that one is a saint, a chieftain, an orator, a Horatius, a kamikazi; one says Ich kann nicht anders - so help me God! And why is it I who cannot do otherwise? Is there a secret assignment from mankind to some unfortunate person who can’t refuse? As if the great majority turned away from a thing it couldn’t permanently forsake and so named some person to remain faithful to it? With great difficulty somebody becomes exemplary, anyhow. (656)
You do all you can to humanize and familiarize the world, and suddenly it becomes more strange than ever. The living are not what they were, the dead die again and again, and at last for good.
I see this now. (710)
Everyone tries to create a world he can live in, and what he can’t use he often can’t see. But the real world is already created, and if your fabrication doesn’t correspond, then even if you feel noble and insist on there being something better than what people call reality, that better something needn’t try to exceed what, in its actuality, since we know it so little, may be very surprising. If a happy state of things, surprising; if miserable or tragic, no worse than we invent. (816)
Me, love’s servant? I wasn’t at all! And suddenly my heart felt ugly, I was sick of myself. I thought that my aim of being simple was just a fraud, that I wasn’t a bit goodhearted or affectionate, and I began to wish that Mexico from beyond the walls would come in and kill me and that I would be thrown in the bone dust and twisted, spiky crosses of the cemetery, for the insects and lizards. (841)
So on some of the golden afternoons by the dive where I sat on a bench in neglected pants and dirty shirt and three days of bristles, I had the inclination to start out and say, “O you creatures still above the ground, what are you up to! Even happiness and beauty is like a movie.” Many times I felt tears. Or again I’d be angry and want to holler. But while no other creature is reprimanded for its noise, for yelling, roaring, screaming, cawing, or braying, there is supposed to be more delicate relief for the human species. (852)
I had Padilla’s slogan of “Easy or not at all.” (881)
I’ll give you an example. I read about King Arthur’s Round Table when I was a kid, but what am I ever going to do about it? My heart was touched by sacrifice and pure attempts, so what should I do? Or take the Gospels. How are you supposed to put them to use? Why, they’re not utilizable! And then you go and pile on top of that more advice and information. Anything that just adds information that you can’t use is plain dangerous. Anyway, there’s too much of everything of this kind, that’s come home to me, too much history and culture to keep track off, too many details, too much news, too much example, too much influence, too many guys who tell you to be as they are, and all this hugeness, abundance, turbulence, Niagara Falls torrent. Which who is supposed to interpret? Me? I haven’t got that much head to master it all. I get carried away. It doesn’t give my feelings enough of a chance if I have to store up and become like an encyclopedia. Why, just as a question of time spent in getting prepared for life, look! a man could spend forty, fifty, sixty years like that inside the walls of his own being. And all great experience would only take place within those walls. And all achievements would stay within the walls of his being. And all high conversation would take place within those walls. And all glamour too. And even hate, monstrousness, enviousness, murder, would be inside them. This would be only a terrible, hideous dream about existing. It’s better to dig ditches and hit other guys with your shovel than die in the walls.” (902-3)
Dear Saul, I say: YES!
“You will understand, Mr. Mintouchian, if I tell you that I have always tried to become what I am. But it’s a frightening thing. Because what if what I am by nature isn’t good enough?” I was close to tears as I said it to him. “I suppose I better, anyway, give in and be it. I will never force the hand of fate to create a better Augie March, nor change the time to an age of gold.” (937)
Amor fati.
Why did I always have to fall among theoreticians! (956)
I felt settled and easy, my chest free and my fingers comfortable and open. And now here’s the thing. It takes a time like this for you to find out how sore your heart has been, and moreover, all the while you thought you were going around idle terribly hard work was taking place. Hard, hard work, excavation and digging, mining, moling through tunnels, heaving, pushing, moving rock, working, working, working, working, working, panting, hauling, hoisting. And none of this work is seen from the outside. It’s internally done. It happens because you are powerless and unable to get anywhere, to obtain justice or have requital, and therefore in yourself you labor, you wage and combat, settle scores, remember insults, fight, reply, blab, denounce, triumph, outwit, overcome, vindicate, cry, persist, absolve, die and rise again. All by yourself! Where is everybody? Inside your breast and skin, the entire cast. (979)
Brother! You never are through, you just think you are! (980)
I don’t know who this saint was who woke up, lifted his face, opened his mouth, and reported on his secret dream that blessedness covers the whole Creation but covers it thicker in some places than in others. Whoever he was, it’s my great weakness to respond to such dreams. This is the amor fati, that’s what it is, or mysterious adoration of what occurs. (983)
December 4, 2008
Amazing! All three were great, spiritual kin of Henry Miller and Nelson Algren, especially The Adventures of Augie March. Such essence of life even in the depths of Depression-era Chicago.
April 13, 2024
It's in the running for "The Great American Novel" and makes its strongest case for that, I think, in tone and characters. The stamp of Chicago is everywhere in "The Adventures," even when they are off in Mexico training eagles. Einhorn and his poolroom - it's hard to imagine gangster movies and even "The Sopranos" without "The Adventures." It's funny, too.
Yet, for this reader, there were drawbacks. I wanted to love "The Adventures of Augie March," I wanted it to get right in amongst me as "Huckleberry" or "Sister Carrie" or any one of a half dozen Faulkner novels and - since the goal is the elusive "Great American Novel" - I wanted to leave supportive of the argument (I think usually credited to Philip Roth) that 20th century American fiction is divided by Faulkner and Bellow, with each ruling one half of the century, writing far above their contemporaries and most obviously for a worldwide and permanent readership. For my money, Faulkner holds together better than Bellow. There is something unconvincing about "The Adventures of Augie March," if only the encyclopedic knowledge he possesses of The Classics.
The writing pyrotechnics are lit in the famous opening paragraph and continue almost unabated for hundreds of pages (this is a long, long novel!). Yet it seemed to me that some of the profundities Bellow has March make throughout the book were unconnected if not, at times, incoherent. Some of that no doubt can be chalked up to my inferior intellect - I just didn't get it. But I also thought the writing itself failed to close the deal on many occasions. And that jars a reader, constantly coming up against some cosmic sort of point Augie is making and either not getting it or not buying it. Finally, while the book is funny, it's not as funny as "Henderson the Rain King," which for my money is Bellow's best (or at least the best I've read so far as I'm no Bellow expert). "Henderson" *is* a "great American novel," in my opinion, and I look forward to reading it again whereas I'm not sure Augie and I will meet again.
Some of these complaints would strike other readers quibbles. "Augie"s overarching philosophy and passion is profound and should lie at the core of whatever "The Great American Novel" is; namely, a strong belief in the exceptionalism of America. Augie buys *and* gets that, and he has some wonderful asides where he points out how shallow and false are those who seek to belittle the American experience and the American record. For this reason, too, I love Bellow and admire what represents actual, real courage in his writing as opposed to so much of the "courageous and brave" tripe the booksellers push on wary and skeptical readers.
"The Adventures of Augie March" would be an unquestioned masterpiece if some 200 pages was cut from it. We, as readers, are left too long with characters that won't last that long or leave as deep an imprint on Augie as others. It captures the black-and-white Chicago of not only the gangsters but of truly American acts like "Abbott and Costello" or "Our Gang." There are long stretches where I felt I was in that kind of Chicago movie - a very low-rent kind of "Untouchables" if you will. That, too, is a genuine achievement by the author. You have to have lived it and loved it as Bellow has to write it straight, which he does.
Obviously readers who want to get into Bellow must read it as it's the novel that made him as an "important artist." That was a deserved honor, but that realization comes to this reader more readily, more quickly and more enjoyably in books like "Henderson," and "Seize the Day," and "Mr. Sammler's Planet."
Yet, for this reader, there were drawbacks. I wanted to love "The Adventures of Augie March," I wanted it to get right in amongst me as "Huckleberry" or "Sister Carrie" or any one of a half dozen Faulkner novels and - since the goal is the elusive "Great American Novel" - I wanted to leave supportive of the argument (I think usually credited to Philip Roth) that 20th century American fiction is divided by Faulkner and Bellow, with each ruling one half of the century, writing far above their contemporaries and most obviously for a worldwide and permanent readership. For my money, Faulkner holds together better than Bellow. There is something unconvincing about "The Adventures of Augie March," if only the encyclopedic knowledge he possesses of The Classics.
The writing pyrotechnics are lit in the famous opening paragraph and continue almost unabated for hundreds of pages (this is a long, long novel!). Yet it seemed to me that some of the profundities Bellow has March make throughout the book were unconnected if not, at times, incoherent. Some of that no doubt can be chalked up to my inferior intellect - I just didn't get it. But I also thought the writing itself failed to close the deal on many occasions. And that jars a reader, constantly coming up against some cosmic sort of point Augie is making and either not getting it or not buying it. Finally, while the book is funny, it's not as funny as "Henderson the Rain King," which for my money is Bellow's best (or at least the best I've read so far as I'm no Bellow expert). "Henderson" *is* a "great American novel," in my opinion, and I look forward to reading it again whereas I'm not sure Augie and I will meet again.
Some of these complaints would strike other readers quibbles. "Augie"s overarching philosophy and passion is profound and should lie at the core of whatever "The Great American Novel" is; namely, a strong belief in the exceptionalism of America. Augie buys *and* gets that, and he has some wonderful asides where he points out how shallow and false are those who seek to belittle the American experience and the American record. For this reason, too, I love Bellow and admire what represents actual, real courage in his writing as opposed to so much of the "courageous and brave" tripe the booksellers push on wary and skeptical readers.
"The Adventures of Augie March" would be an unquestioned masterpiece if some 200 pages was cut from it. We, as readers, are left too long with characters that won't last that long or leave as deep an imprint on Augie as others. It captures the black-and-white Chicago of not only the gangsters but of truly American acts like "Abbott and Costello" or "Our Gang." There are long stretches where I felt I was in that kind of Chicago movie - a very low-rent kind of "Untouchables" if you will. That, too, is a genuine achievement by the author. You have to have lived it and loved it as Bellow has to write it straight, which he does.
Obviously readers who want to get into Bellow must read it as it's the novel that made him as an "important artist." That was a deserved honor, but that realization comes to this reader more readily, more quickly and more enjoyably in books like "Henderson," and "Seize the Day," and "Mr. Sammler's Planet."
December 20, 2015
After reading this collection of his first three novels, I can understand why Saul Bellow is considered a great writer. The highlight is his third, The Adventures of Augie March. I thoroughly enjoyed the first 85% of the novel, which was a David Copperfield-esque, first-person life journey full of rich characters and addicting prose. But it just seemed to run out of inspiration near the end. I felt as though Bellow was forcing in narratives and conversations to complete a checklist of things demonstrating his knowledge of various psychological themes. All-in-all it was a very good book. But it could have ended earlier and been better.
The Victim is an interesting story that contemplates the impact of fleeting acquaintances can have on one’s life. It also demonstrates how we overvalue contemporary relationships, such as friends and coworkers, when looking back at our lives over time. It is easy to imagine how Bellow’s first, Dangling Man, might well have been an inspiration for coming-of-age novels like Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye and Percy’s The Moviegoer.
The Victim is an interesting story that contemplates the impact of fleeting acquaintances can have on one’s life. It also demonstrates how we overvalue contemporary relationships, such as friends and coworkers, when looking back at our lives over time. It is easy to imagine how Bellow’s first, Dangling Man, might well have been an inspiration for coming-of-age novels like Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye and Percy’s The Moviegoer.
November 6, 2007
Just read Dangling Man and The Victim. Read the Victim!!! Its set in NY in the 50's. Harold Bloom calls it a period piece, but I think it's more than that. It's like Kafka and Alfred Hitchock. The psychological realism is really good...I called it a psychological/existential thriller. Must read. On to Auggie March which I am reading right now.
December 3, 2025
Written in diary format, ‘Dangling Man’ centers on the life of an unemployed young man named Joseph, his relationships with his wife and friends, and his frustrations with living in Chicago and waiting to be drafted. His diary serves as a philosophical confessional for his musings. The novel can been seen as a Superfluous Man narrative, that mainstay of 19th-century Russian literature. While there is no plot as such, the diary format allows Bellow to explore the human condition, particularly that of a rudderless mid-century male searching for his philosophical place in the world. Held up against modern society, where so many young men, too, are trying to navigate rapid changes to our societal structure, I found the relevance of Bellow’s first work much elevated in importance. While it's commonly regarded as an ‘apprentice work’ in Bellow’s long and illustrious career, ‘Dangling Man’ shows his great skill as both observer and communicator, and is a must-read for every fan of Philip Roth and John Updike.
Saul Bellow’s second novel ‘The Victim’ improves on his first by setting his acute observations of human behavior in an actual narrative framework. Like much of Bellow’s work, the protagonist is a middle-aged Jewish man, Levanthal is living in New York City in a small flat while his wife is away on family business. Levanthal is soon haunted by an old acquaintance (Allbee) who claims that Levanthal has been the cause of his misfortune. The story explores the men’s evolving relationship, and Levanthal’s relationships with his male friends, against a backdrop of family crisis. We watch Levanthal’s growth as the story develops, how he copes with past mistakes, and the subtle antisemitism he encounters in Post WWII NYC.
When a book has won the National Book Award and is listed among the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, you know you’re in for something good, but when both Time magazine and the Modern Library Board both include it in their list of the hundred best novels in the English language, well, that’s a bit daunting. Best take our time then, lest we miss something.
‘The Adventures of Augie March’ is an example Bildungsroman, tracing the life of the titular character through a series of encounters, occupations and relationships from boyhood to manhood. We join Augie’s story as a pre-teen, as he, older brother Simon and special needs younger brother George are growing up in hardscrabble Chicago just following the end of WWI. Dad abandoned Mom long ago with the three boys, and she’s losing her sight, so the two older siblings must do what they can to try make money for now and break out of the cycle of poverty. Simon comes up with a plan for success, and his story told in parallel is a of a man driven towards riches. Meanwhile, Augie is more of a free-spirit and his timeline is littered with odd jobs and failed romance as he pursues an elusive… something… a something that he doesn’t quite see clearly until its final pages, a reward greater than the largest pile of cash.
Saul Bellow’s second novel ‘The Victim’ improves on his first by setting his acute observations of human behavior in an actual narrative framework. Like much of Bellow’s work, the protagonist is a middle-aged Jewish man, Levanthal is living in New York City in a small flat while his wife is away on family business. Levanthal is soon haunted by an old acquaintance (Allbee) who claims that Levanthal has been the cause of his misfortune. The story explores the men’s evolving relationship, and Levanthal’s relationships with his male friends, against a backdrop of family crisis. We watch Levanthal’s growth as the story develops, how he copes with past mistakes, and the subtle antisemitism he encounters in Post WWII NYC.
When a book has won the National Book Award and is listed among the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, you know you’re in for something good, but when both Time magazine and the Modern Library Board both include it in their list of the hundred best novels in the English language, well, that’s a bit daunting. Best take our time then, lest we miss something.
‘The Adventures of Augie March’ is an example Bildungsroman, tracing the life of the titular character through a series of encounters, occupations and relationships from boyhood to manhood. We join Augie’s story as a pre-teen, as he, older brother Simon and special needs younger brother George are growing up in hardscrabble Chicago just following the end of WWI. Dad abandoned Mom long ago with the three boys, and she’s losing her sight, so the two older siblings must do what they can to try make money for now and break out of the cycle of poverty. Simon comes up with a plan for success, and his story told in parallel is a of a man driven towards riches. Meanwhile, Augie is more of a free-spirit and his timeline is littered with odd jobs and failed romance as he pursues an elusive… something… a something that he doesn’t quite see clearly until its final pages, a reward greater than the largest pile of cash.
Read
June 17, 20253 very dense and at times inscrutable novels that demand to be reread; further background reading should also be done if you want to fully appreciate the genius of Bellow. In short, I would describe each book as such:
Dangling Man is a good read, but very amateurish for what Bellow would eventually write.
The Victim is a fascinating and unique read, but perhaps not the most exciting of Bellow’s work.
The Adventures of Augie March is hands down, full stop, one of the best novels I’ve ever read. It seems that you could reread this book until the end of time and never grow tired of it. There’s simply so much to appreciate in every single paragraph, sentence, word. Rivals Dicken’s best picaresque novels.
I understand that that doesn’t even come close to fully appreciating any of these works, but for the uninitiated, maybe keep that stuff in the back of your mind before starting on Bellow (it’s also important to note that these are essentially just my abridged first impressions; I haven’t reread any of these novels).
Dangling Man is a good read, but very amateurish for what Bellow would eventually write.
The Victim is a fascinating and unique read, but perhaps not the most exciting of Bellow’s work.
The Adventures of Augie March is hands down, full stop, one of the best novels I’ve ever read. It seems that you could reread this book until the end of time and never grow tired of it. There’s simply so much to appreciate in every single paragraph, sentence, word. Rivals Dicken’s best picaresque novels.
I understand that that doesn’t even come close to fully appreciating any of these works, but for the uninitiated, maybe keep that stuff in the back of your mind before starting on Bellow (it’s also important to note that these are essentially just my abridged first impressions; I haven’t reread any of these novels).
October 16, 2016
You know why he won the Nobel in Literature. Augie is a great book. Up there with Moby Dick
and Lord of the Flies and the Stranger,and Rabbit Run, Bob Fisher
and Lord of the Flies and the Stranger,and Rabbit Run, Bob Fisher
August 9, 2014
I intended just the read "The Adventures of Augie March," but ended up reading both "The Dangling Man" and "The Victim." "Augie March" is a picaresque bildungsroman that apparently really made Bellow's reputation, but I liked the other two better. Both had more dramatic tension and more focused plots. The protagonist of the first two novels are much more driven and unhappy individuals, struggling with urban alienation in the early and later 1940s. Augie, on the other hand, grows up before the reader's eyes, always a somewhat aimless character, driven by the whims of fate. The narrator's persona in Augie put me off. It's told in the first person and looking back as a voraciously self-educated young man, but the extensive parading of classical, biblical,and historical allusions really interrupted the flow of the book for me.
Spoiler Alerts: At the same time, there are some remarkable chapters in the book that will stick with me a long time: a botched illegal abortion, the sinking Augie's merchant ship, his ill-fated trip to Mexico where he and the latest love of his life try to train an eagle to attack iguanas.
Spoiler Alerts: At the same time, there are some remarkable chapters in the book that will stick with me a long time: a botched illegal abortion, the sinking Augie's merchant ship, his ill-fated trip to Mexico where he and the latest love of his life try to train an eagle to attack iguanas.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 2, 2012
I am in the process of rereading all of Bellow's work. It has been some 40 years since I first read this book. It is quite overwhelming in the number of characters and situations that Augie encounters during the course of the book. He spends about the first 2/3 of the book mostly in Chicago, but then travels to Mexico, Alaska and Europe. The book explores his continuing relationship with his brother, Simon, and a long list of women. He has benefactors (Einhorn, Renling) who don't necessarily ease his way in the world.
April 28, 2010
10Jan2009 - This is the second time I've tried to read this. Got stuck at Chapter VI. Very boring, but it's a "classic."
April 2010 - sold the book on eBay - at least i got a few bucks for it -the shorter books were good, but no way was i ever going to invest the time necessary to burrow through Augie
April 2010 - sold the book on eBay - at least i got a few bucks for it -the shorter books were good, but no way was i ever going to invest the time necessary to burrow through Augie
August 12, 2007
پنجاه سال پس از انتشار "ماجراها اوجی مارچ"، سه رمان سال بلو که در دهه ی پس از جنگ دوم جهانی منتشر شده اند، در یک مجموعه یکجا منتشر شده است.
این طرف ها چاپ های بعدی یک اثر معمولن تغییراتی ولو اندک دارند، که وسوسه ای ست برای دوباره خواندنشان!
این طرف ها چاپ های بعدی یک اثر معمولن تغییراتی ولو اندک دارند، که وسوسه ای ست برای دوباره خواندنشان!
October 24, 2007
I only read "The Adventures of Augie March" from this anthology.
December 2, 2011
The Adventures of Augie March is wonderful.
Read
August 11, 2011Just a great introductory book to Bellow. He's got such vision and power.
August 18, 2015
I only read auggie March out of this collection but I loved it.
October 5, 2015
Not always an easy read, but full of depth, challenging, rewarding, and entertaining. This was the first time I've read Saul Bellow and I enjoyed the experience immensely.
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