"wandering" And "rebirth": Analysis Of The Theme In Saul Bellow's Novels

Saul Bellow is good at portraying the spiritual states of the people in the modern society and exploring the ways for them to solve the spiritual problems. And he depicts the spiritual crisis under the material prosperity in America. Many Bellow's novels have wandering as the theme and his exploration of the theme is profound. Through the full presentation of the wandering theme, Bellow discloses man's spiritual life and their existential essence under the cover of superficial wealth. Many of Bellow's novels search for the human's existential value.The protagonists in Bellow's novels always seek their existential value by way of wandering. In Bellow's works, the way of wandering includes two forms:the physical and the spiritual. Through the employment of existentialism advocated by Sartre, the thesis intends to make an interpretation of the theme of Bellow's works by choosing the two representative novels Henderson the Rain King and Herzog.Through Henderson the Rain King, which was published in 1959, Bellow has reflected vividly and incisively the anxiety of modern man towards their existential value. The alienation and spiritual crisis of the modern society are shown in the process of Henderson's setbacks in seeking his own value in Africa and his returning to reality to embrace his inner change and rebirth. The process of physical wandering ends up with his transformation of mind and rebirth. And Herzog, published in 1964, has portrayed a process of the subtle psychological change of a typical American intellectual in 1960s. Herzog is persistent in pursuing his existential value and he finally finds his inner peace through the mental wandering. By analyzing Henderson's African journey experience of changing and Herzog's inner change to get rebirth from the point of existentialism, we can see the theme of Bellow's works more clearly. The thesis expounds that, the rebirth pursued by Bellow and the restoring of man's existential meaning and value reveal human's living situation profoundly.