Conversations with Saul Bellow: A Collection of Selected Interviews

by Edited By : Sukbir Singh

Renowned writer Saul Bellow reflects on the times in which we live and the craft of writing. Bellow asks what meaningful words are left to write in the face of such events as revolutions, world wars, the atom bomb, and who would take the time to read them if new words were found or invented. Fortunately Faulkner is no longer alive, and unfortunately, neither is Hemingway.

200 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1994

Reviews

[Gary Lang]

Saul Bellow clearly was as interesting when speaking extemporaneously as he was when in his carefully written, edited, and published writings. He spoke in the same way he wrote; what you read is his voice.

His last wife Janis alludes to this in the more recent "Letters" when she describes their first meeting at the University of Chicago. It's well beyond "speaking in complete sentences" which is hard enough for most busy professionals to do.

He was somewhat cranky and sounded a bit conservative about the changes of the 60s and 70s. However, given the people he chose at acquaintances in his later life (Kingsley Amis, for example), it's clear that he had time for a thoughtful discussion of what needed changing then; Saul avoided the simplistic narratives of the time, which puts him at odds with the prevailing retrospectives of that era.

But that's what made him an interesting human being and writer.