Saul Bellow R.I.P.

[Ghetta Life]

Just finishing (tonight) Roth's "Plot Against America" and have enjoyed it 
(with reservations akin to those in this NYT review:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B02E4D71539F932A1575AC0A9629C8B63

"The real drama in this book does not concern the Lindbergh presidency or 
World War II, but rather the effect that these huge, clanging events have on 
the Roth family and on Philip's boyhood consciousness. The drama lies in him 
watching his frightened but resourceful mother try to keep her family safe 
in the face of events completely beyond her control, and in watching his 
furious but determined father try to reconcile his expectations of the world 
with a terrible new reality."

It's a quick read but believability of the political landscape is its main 
fault.

And last week I received via mail Bellow's "Humbolt's Gift."  Looking 
forward to that, never having read any Bellow before.  And the glowing obits 
are no small encouragement...

Ghetta

>From: "Monroe, Dave" <monroe at mpm.edu>
>To: "'pynchon-l at waste.org'" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>Subject: Saul Bellow R.I.P.
>Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2005 19:17:54 -0500
>
>The novelist Thomas Pynchon -- who won the same award for his third novel 
>20 years later -- later wrote of Bellow's liberating influence on a whole 
>generation of writers:
>
>"We were encouraged from many directions -- Kerouac and the Beat writers, 
>the diction of Saul Bellow in 'The Adventures of Augie March,' emerging 
>voices like those of Herbert Gold and Philip Roth -- to see how at least 
>two very distinct kinds of English could be allowed in fiction to coexist. 
>Allowed! It was actually OK to write like this! Who knew?" ...
>
>http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/04/06/BELLOW.TMP
>

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