From Alienation To Harmony

Saul Bellow (1915--2005), a Canadian-born Jewish American writer whose novels show his unique understanding of human existence, is regarded as a representative figure of contemporary American literature and a vanguard of contemporary fiction in the wake of Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner. During his prolific writing career, he won three National Book Awards and one Pulitzer Prize, and in October, 1976, his literary career reached its climax, being awarded Nobel Prize in Literature for his "the human understanding and subtleanalysis of contemporary culture that are combined in his works".How to categorize his colorful works has been one of the focuses of Saul Bellow criticism. Some critics classify him as a realistic writer; some consider his works modernistic, while quite a few view him as an existentialist. To further clarify this issue, the present thesis makes an in-depth analysis of .the themes of Bellow's early-stage work Dangling Man, The Adventures of Augie March and his middle-stage work Herzog, in the light of Michel Foucault's discoursetheory—iscontinuity and discursive formation of discourses.Through the analysis, the present study reveals that themes of these works are not consistent. With the change of times and continuous deepening of Bellow's understanding of human existence, the themes of his works develop both in the manner of continuity and rupture.Specifically, the theme of Bellow's early-stage work Dangling Man inclines to that of modernism; The Adventures of Augie March to the beliefs of existentialism; while that of middle-stage Herzog is more practical and dialectical, advocating the individual's voluntary adjustment to reality. There is a clear path of development—from alienation, to active participation, and finally to reconciliation and harmony.Therefore, the author of the present thesis argues that it is inadequate to categorize Bellow statically into any of the three categories. A dynamic perspective should be adopted in studying him. This offers an insight into further study of Bellow's works.The thesis consists of five chapters. In Chapter One Introduction, the thesis first gives a brief review of Bellow's life and career, especially his contribution to contemporary literature; then a detailed literature review, on the basis of which the author introduces the methodology and study domain of the present thesis.In Chapter Two, the thesis analyzes the modernist features of Dangling Man—absurdity, alienation, and perplexity, after a brief introduction to Modernism. Through a close investigation of the themes of The Adventures of Augie March, chapter three points out Bellow's changed view to human existence, form lamentation of a meaningless life towards advocacy of a positive existence through self-creation and free choice. Thematic analysis of Herzog in Chapter Four reveals Bellow's another drastic turn in his worldview. Breaking away from the confine of idealism, Bellow puts his strength and enthusiasm into the study of the real world. In Herzog, he advocates people to realize the complexity of the real world and try to reconcile with it and accept the world as it is. Chapter Five is the conclusion. Summarizing the analysis in the previous three chapters, the present thesis argues that it is inadequate to categorize Bellow's works, as a whole, into any of the categories because there are obvious thematic variations in these early works. But still, one may traces a general path of their evolution, that is, from alienation, to active participation, and finally to reconciliation and harmony.