Jean-François Leroux.

College Literature, Vol. 35, No. 1, Winter 2008, pp. 1-15.

The following essay reexamines Saul Bellow's much discussed relationship to Dostoevsky by focussing on the genealogy of boredom, with its dual origins as source of lyrical expression and/or prison of moral ambivalence. Specifically, though Bellow criticism past and present has argued by turns, and sometimes simultaneously, that Bellow is a disciple of Dostoevsky the moralist or of his 'polyphonic' art, it finds upon closer inspection that what Bellow truly strives to envisage in/through the glass of Dostoevsky's 'Eastern' art is a harmonious resolution to the paradox inherent in this alliance of apparently incompatible ideals-the artist's creed of disinterestedness and the moralist-polemicist's commitment to self-realization through conviction and action. However, where Bellow and his critics see concord, Dostoevsky and his critics see discord. And with reason, since Bellow's desire to reconcile the artist and the moralist in Dostoevsky (and in himself) leads him to ignore boredom's moral-intellectual antecedents in the literature of Western Enlightenment and consequently assert his bias as a 'spokesman for our culture . . . a defender of the Western cultural tradition' (Clayton 1979, 3). Conversely, but by the same token, the 'constant conflict . . . between the propagandist and creative artist' (Magarshak 1975, 311) enacted in Dostoevsky's oeuvre points to his polemic not only with the West but, of course, with himself.

Masayuki Teranishi.

Language and Literature, Vol. 16, No. 1, Feb 2007, pp. 20-36.

Saul Bellow's Herzog has been regarded by some critics as a polyphonic novel in which plural voices coexist. However, it has not been fully discussed how polyphony is embodied in the text. In this article, I analyse the speech and thought presentation involved in the characterization of the protagonist. I pay special attention to the fusion of and competition among 'different versions' of Herzog and subjectivities of other characters existent in Herzog's consciousness. From the analysis of selected passages, it is shown how Bellow creates 'polyphony' or 'poly-subjectivization' in the text, and the place of Herzog in the context of 'Postmodernism' is also clarified. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Ltd., copyright 2007.]

Christopher Hitchens.

Observer; Review, 10 Apr 2005, pp. 7.

Pays tribute to Saul Bellow, 1915-2005. Bellow's version of neoconservatism made him a few enemies. He was not an elitist, though, but a deep humanist.

Hubert Teyssandier.

Regards croisés sur Chicago (actes du colloque "Chicago", 8 et 9 mars 2002, Lerma, Culture et Société)

This article explores the representation of Chicago in The Adventures of Augie March in relation to the 19th century city novel (Balzac's Paris, Dickens's London) and the 20th century American city novel, starting with Henry James, and continuing with Stephen Crane and Theodore Dreiser. Augie March's Chicago is that of the twenties and the thirties, and its fictional rendering is firmly anchored in the topography of the place and in the history of the times (the prohibition, the New Deal, and the outbreak of the Second World War). The literary representation of the city, which focuses on the West Side, but also contains glimpses of the Loop, the South Side and the North Side, owes some of its features to the realist and naturalist tradition, which Dreiser had inherited from European 19th century fiction, and renovated to capture the large and complex city scene of Chicago in the eighteen eighties. Continuing Dreiser's tradition some fifty years after Sister Carrie, Saul Bellow conveys the energy and frenzy of the great snarled city with the hard black straps of rails, enormous industry cooking and its vapour shuddering to the air, while his titular hero keeps away from it all and feels more secure in the margins, in Mexico, and ultimately in Europe. Beyond the realist and naturalist images of city life, Augie's somber city, with its squalor and middle-of-Asia darkness, reverberates the gloom of Dickens's London and arouses visions of doom like an Old testament city suffering under God's wrath.

John Uhr.

Philosophy and Literature, Vol. 24, No. 2, October 2000, pp. 451-466.

This article reviews the critical response to Saul Bellow's novel Ravelstein, arguing that Bellow's intention has been generally misunderstood. Bellow's novel is a literary treatment of philosophy as a way of life. But the novel is not primarily a fictionalized memoir in honor of political philosopher Allan Bloom, disguised as Abe Ravelstein. The work is better understood as a study in the moral psychology of wonder. Ravelstein is seen through the eyes of the puzzled narrator, Chick, who is the real focus of the novel. Bellow's novel investigates Chick's wonder about Ravelstein's larger-than-life character and his philosophic eros.