THE BALANCING PERSPECTIVE: THE PARADOX OF ALIENATION AND ACCOMMODATION IN THE 'VICTIM' NOVELS OF SAUL BELLOW

Most criticisms of Saul Bellow's "victim" novels are vitiated by a distinctly one-sided approach. In general, critics have been prone to regard the novels as representations of Bellow's pessimistic vision of modern life. Critics who have relied on traditional definitions of alienation (especially those which make it out to be an entirely detrimental aspect of contemporary existence) or who have been inclined to concentrate on the ostensibly restrictive characteristics of all three novels overlook the books' positive features. Or they perceive the accommodations of the victim-heroes as being somehow unjustified or invalid. Against this criticism, however, must be set two of Bellow's stated artistic intentions, both of which are amply realized in the three novels. On the one hand, Bellow has, in several places, acknowledged his commitment to his self-imposed obligation to represent life realistically. This task necessarily involves the portrayal of alienated, victimized, and suffering human beings. On the other hand, each of his "victim" novels also represents an inquiry into what he considers the "primary moral question" of modern times: "In what form shall life be justified?" Bellow's three "victim" novels are particularly involved, in fact, with the initial working out of different fictional forms which might provide various "human" and moral responses to these two obligations. While they attempt to illustrate what he calls "genuine human alienation", they also point to some beneficial aspects of this condition. Additionally, they also furnish some viable modes of accommodation. This dualistic presentation acts as the basis of Bellow's paradoxical perspective on life.; Chapter I of this study provides some of the intellectual, literary and critical background necessary to understand Bellow's paradoxical treatment of the themes of alienation and accommodation. Chapter II deals with Dangling Man and its portrayal of some of the basic forms of alienation and several of the elementary kinds of accommodation all Bellow's heroes eventually achieve. Chapter III explores some additional aspects of estrangement in The Victim and then concentrates on Bellow's increased emphasis on the values of the protagonist's painful condition and final resolution. Chapter IV begins with a discussion concerning the uniformity of the three "victim" novels, but deals mainly with the development of Bellow's themes as they appear in Seize the Day. The novel serves as an appropriate summary of the sources of the Bellow hero's accommodation. Chapter V considers some of the shortcomings of the three novels, but balances these judgments with a discussion about the paradoxes of alienation, victimization and accommodation.; This study reveals that the usefulness of these two themes is quite evident once we realize how Bellow's balancing perspective enables him to avoid the dangers of acceding to the "cant" of either of these "platitudes", as he terms them. Despite what even he has designated as the "repressive" nature of his early works, Bellow is able to provide some realizable moral answers to his prime inquiry. In the "victim" novels, we get a limited, but realistic affirmation of life.