The Ethical Growth Of Herzog

Herzog is one of Saul Bellow’s representative works.Set in America in the 1960 s,it relates the protagonist Herzog’s process from confusion and lost to awakening.From the publication of Herzog,it starts a critical research craze.Most scholars at home and abroad have studied the work from various perspectives.Few scholars use the method of ethical literary criticism to conduct systematic research on Herzog.The ethical literary criticism is a research method to study literary works based on the reference and absorption of western criticism theory by Professor Nie Zhenzhao in the 21 th century.Ethical literary criticism emphasizes returning to the ethical scene of the history,standing at that time of the ethical stance on interpretation of literary works,exploring the ethical factors that lead to social events and affect the fate of the characters as well as making a moral evaluation from the perspective of history.In light of ethical literary criticism,this thesis analyzes Herzog’s ethical growth from the following dimensions: ethical environment;ethical identity;ethical consciousness.Study shows that the ethical implication of Herzog resides mainly in three aspects: ethical environment of society,family,and religion has led to Herzog’s existential plight;the loss of social ethical identity is a result of the compelling social ethical environment;parental problems and marital issues deprive Herzog of his family ethical identity;Herzog’s ethical awareness is achieved through self-examination,brotherhood,love from his lover,and family responsibilities.This thesis aims at analyzing Saul Bellow’s ethical concern for the Jewish intellectuals and revealing the profound ethical implications in Herzog.