| Herzog, as one of Saul Bellow's best novels, perfectly embodies Bellow's ability of "human understanding and subtle analysis of contemporary culture ". The paper reveals Bellow's searching for meaning and selfhood in the anxiety-ridden America of the 1960's by the serious and penetrating, sometimes humorous, portrait and analysis of the middle-aged man, Herzog. By depicting the process of growth of Saul Bellow's Herzog, an ordinary person and a mixture of good and evil, and hence it helps illuminate its theme, that is, Bellow's firm confidence in human beings. A man who was down (suffered a lot), but refused to be out (gave up). Even with a compromise.The paper offers an interpretation of Herzog by way of a systematic and deep-going exploration of the protagonist's psyche and his spiritual transformations. That is, suffering —finding— accomplishing. Though in a nutshell, he is always on the move, and, at first, he is a man with no foothold. But (and it is important to add this) a man who keeps on trying to find a foothold during his wanderings in our tottering world, Suffering, then, becomes not only the path to a robust and admirable personality but also to a deeper apprehension of life's mysteries. Though encountering the inevitable mishaps and misunderstandings from the conventional people. The suffering left him stronger, more vibrant, more alive, emotionally and physically than Herzog. And the enlightening light finally shed over the hero's inner self. Finally, Herzog opens himself up and gives himself to us. The narrative is an act of love which proves that, despite the odds, Herzog has turned into a mensch and is trying to come to terms with the reality through compromise rather than through angry blows. One who can never relinquish his faith that the value of life depends on its dignity, not on its success, and that the truth must triumph at last, simply because it demands everything except - triumphs. Although he isn't successful or great, he still sticks to his pursuit to life. That is the way of thinking in which Saul Bellow's "anti-hero" has his foundation and acquire his lasting stature.Moses Herzog, the main character, becomes obsessed with writing letters to "everyone under the sun," living or deceased, including his family, friends, enemies, and historical figures. Over the past few months, he has experienced a spiritual and emotional paralysis, triggered by the breakup of his marriage and his contemplation of the wasteland of modern life, "down in the mire of post-Renaissance, post-humanistic, post-Cartesian dissolution, next door to the void." However, he didn't yield to this. During the course of the novel, the plots and the characters express the human dilemma, he continually struggles to solve a problem that haunts him. This problem is personal, but it is also –in the novelist who commands our attention – a refection of the larger society. We are compelled by the writer whose inner struggle provided us with the largest representation of the culture in which we, with him, are involved. Saul bellow is clearly such a writer. His readers feel that he is on the frontier of their own lives. That Bellow is so clearly searching for his proper form, he knows the true path to greatness, he has found out some of the secret places of our pride and trouble. With that outlook the novel's hero could be regarded, seen through and exposed, but not glorified. The anti-hero in confusion and rage was presented to us, Herzog is forced to cope with the sense of alienation and displacement as he analyzes his past and tries to determine his future. And Bellow became one of those who took care of him by giving us subtle analysis of our culture, drastic and tragic episodes in quick succession interspersed with philosophic conversation with the reader, developed by a commentator with a firm belief and penetrating insight into the outer and inner complications that drive us to realize that in the dilemma of our age: If you were a man of social duty, try to fin...
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