The Tragic Connotation Of Saul Bellow’s Novels And Its Transcendence

Saul Bellow is one of the most important American Jewish writers after World War Ⅱ, whose work has a profound tragic connotation and gives close attention to existential plight of current generation. The specific history and cultural tradition of the Jewish people, the tragic thoughts of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, both with Bellow’s existential experience in American society influence the formation of his consciousness of tragedy all together.Throughout all of Bellow’s novels, it can be found that they show rich tragic connotation. The flourishing of modernist literature has a significant influence on Bellow’s thought and artistic method of writing, which makes him profoundly reveals the dilemma of individual internal perplexity and struggle in his work. Due to character flaws, his noble Jewish intellectuals often fall into tragedies of mental vacancy and dual personality. Bellow is also good at describing the painful home life of average American Jews, and showing that the most important cause of family marriage tragedy is the fault of male protagonist, and female’s egoism deepens the home plight too. If we say that the individual internal perplexity and struggle and the marriage breakdown in Bellow’s novels are mainly caused by fault, then it is mainly determined by the social environment that they can’t reach lofty ideas in modern society. During the confrontation with powerful social dissident fore, male goes into failure and destruction, but often at this moment that the dignity and value of human being are shown. As a jewish writer, Bellow writes the dilemma of individual existence, and touches the tragic situation of whole Jewish people. On one hand, wounds of anti-semitism and holocaust are still not cured; On the other hand, Ameriran Iews adiust their identity properties actively or passively because of survival pressure, which results in tragedies of jewish faith and identity lossing.In terms of inherent spirit and artistic style of the novels, Bellow’s work highlights the "tragic" on plot, which means hardships the characters go through. However, his novels are certainly not only restricted to descripting sorrow, but also display the style of heroic and stirring. It is in this sense that the spirit conveyed by Bellow’s whole work corresponds to the transcendence of modern tragic spirit. In the face of suffering and sacrifice, Bellow emphasizes that man should revolt and transcend them, and to live with deep optimistic spirit. It can be found that there are three kinds of transcendence specific to his novels, which are denving of concepts leading to negative survival, and facing death and evil, and questing for the spiritual homeland of current generation. Undoubtedly, for contemporary people, Bellow’s tragic novels are valuable spiritual heritage.