Interpretation And Representation Of Spiritual Ghetto

Saul Bellow occupies an important place in American literature and is regarded as the literary heir of Hemingway and Faulkner. A striking difference between Bellow and the two predecessors who represent conspicuous areas of traditional American experience is that Bellow's works are branded with the born mark of Jewishness and present unique Jewish cultural scenes. He instills the elements of Jewish spirit and Hebrew cultural resources into his fictions and forms a Bellowian style which affirms his status as a prominent American Jewish writer in post-war American literature.This paper focuses on the exploration of Jewishness in Bellow's two earlier novels—Dangling Man and The Victim, and dabbles in excavating Spiritual Ghetto on the base of the analysis of the two texts against the cultural context. Spiritual Ghetto is the cultural equivalent to Jewish spirit and ethnic consciousness. The vivid cultural conception serves as a cohesion thread to link the manifold elements related to Jewishness together to display Bellow's Jewish complex. In these two novels, the characters, themes and techniques interpret and represent Spiritual Ghetto in different perspectives and demonstrate the Jewish spirit and Jewish cultural consciousness.This thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter One gives a brief introduction of Bellow's works and his Jewish complex, presents a general account of the origin and connotation of Spiritual Ghetto and illustrates the significance of this study. Chapter Two focuses on the anatomy of the characters of the two novels. The protagonists are the pilgrims and preservers of Spiritual Ghetto while the minor characters serve as the defectors and supporters of Spiritual Ghetto. All the characters cooperate to become the authoritative interpreters of Spiritual Ghetto. Chapter Three is devoted to the analysis of the Judaism-related themes shared by these two novels. Based on the relationship between man and God according to Judaism, there are two kinds of themes—ethic monotheism and man's rebellious spirit against God which annotate the essence of Spiritual Ghetto. Chapter Four concentrates on the enumeration of several typical techniques which represent the features of Spiritual Ghetto, including the exile pattern, animal images, biblical allusions, Jewish mysticism and Jewish humor. Chapter Five is the conclusion part summarizing the whole thesis.Bellow's two earlier novels are underappreciated marvels with the crudest hues of Jewishness and establish the intellectual and emotional foundations of all Bellow's subsequent writings. This paper explores the latent Spiritual Ghetto and Jewish spirit in these two novels to achieve a better understanding of Bellow's Jewish complex and inspire the contemplation on cultural issues by rereading literary works.