Saul Bellow - high-minded joker?

[François Monti]

John Carvill wrote:

> Read a couple of Bellow’s before he died, with mixed results. All the 
> obits and articles published since his death have sparked my interest 
> again. What’s the consensus on the p-list re. Bellow?
>

I love every Bellow I've read. Finished Augie March recently, and it's 
as good as it's supposed to be. Herzog is another favourite: superb 
portrait of a man's problems with all types of relationship. Great 
style, thought provoking fiction, Bellow at his peak. I know a lot of 
people think that Ravelstein is boring, but I found it a very touching 
novel. As MalignD already mentioned, The Victim is a good work but not 
yet the true Bellow. I think he later said of Dangling Man and The 
Victim that they were written before he understood it was better to 
laugh at man's fate than to cry. Pretty good way of illustrating the 
difference between his first two novels and the rest of his work, 
although everything he wrote was pretty much sweet and sour. I liked 
Bellarosa's Connection too, actually the first one I read, but it's not 
really one of the must read.

He was one of the greatest of the 20th century. I'm always stunned by 
how he manages to make you believe his characters are "real" thanks to 
his talent for descripting emotions. I was also extremely surprised when 
I found out none of his works had been mentioned in the p-list best 
books list. But then again other things were extremely surprising: 
Vineland so high up and Mme Bovary picked up rather than L'éducation 
sentimentale -choice that would make any "Flaubertian" cringe.

-- 
François Monti