| Saul Bellow's Humboldt's Gift explores the problem of spiritual sleep and the possibility of spiritual awakening. The narrator, Charlie Citrine, claims that he is a somnambulist who is trying to wake up. Much of the narrative focuses on the poet Humboldt, an insomniac unable to maintain healthy wakefulness. Thus, the novel asks: what must one do to wake up and to maintain a healthy state of wakefulness?;This dissertation on spiritual awakening in Humboldt's Gift proceeds inductively. I have divided the novel into six parts according to the time scheme of the events, and I have looked at the uses of forms of the words "sleep" and "wake" in each part. The terms are connected to three central images: a photograph of Charlie standing under a tree, Rip van Winkle, and flowers. The terms combined with the images suggest a movement from the problem of sleep to the possibility of awakening.;Ultimately, the investigation of "sleep" and "wake" reveals not only that spiritual awakening is the main theme of the novel but also that the imagination is the instrument of spiritual awakening. However, the novel presents the fall of Humboldt, who had a gifted imagination. If the imagination is the "savior faculty," as Charlie insists, then what happened to Humboldt? The novel answers that the imagination did not fail Humboldt; he failed the imagination. Acutally, the novel blames America and Humboldt: America for its obsession with materialism and Humboldt for his failure to meet the challenge posed by materialistic America.;Though Humboldt lost his gift, he never forsook his faith in the imagination and was able to muster enough strength to produce the literal gift which aids Charlie in the pursuit of his mission. Charlie believes that it is up to him to advance the faith in the imagination that he shared with Humboldt. Impeding Charlie's mission and his awakening are money, lust, pride, and ambition, which paralyze the imagination. Expediting his mission and his awakening are death and love, which challenge the imagination. |
