Implicit And Explicit

Saul Bellow(1915—2005), a famous Jewish American writer, is one of the most outstanding American writers after Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner. He won National Book Prize three times by his"Adventures of Augie March""Herzog"and"Mr. Sammler's Planet"respectively."Humboldt's Gift"won International Literature Prize in 1965 and he became the first American who won this prize. France awarded him a Literature and Art Knight Medal in January 1968. In the same year, he had won Jewish Heritage Prize as well. The Nobel Prize came in 1976 to Saul Bellow for his"humanistic understanding and exquisite analysis of the contemporary culture".At present, studies on"Jewishness"refer to many facets. But most of them summarized it"implicit"or"obscure"because Bellow denied the appellation of"Jewish American Writer"openly. Bellow opposed this label and the way of categorizing writers just by their races while thinking a writer should describe universal theme of all people. After reading his works carefully, I find that the word"implicit"can not explain all his works. There was a contrary trend of being"obvious"contained in Bellow's late works. In these works, the author had been commenting on the Massacre, the Anti-Semitism and the maintaining of Jewish tradition which has been cared by Jews and all people. So summarizing it"implicit"alone is not comprehensive.Bellow's"Jewishness"has been categorized into two trends——implicit and explicit. We can also say it"obscure"and"obvious". In other words, from an overall situation, Bellow's theme has little to do with"Jewishness". He surmounted the theme of Jews successfully and devoted himself to representing the universal theme, for example, love, life, friendship and so on. In these works,"Jewishness"had been hidden, which we can say"implicit". But in other works, on the contrary, the focus of Bellow returned to the Jews. In these works, he discussed the massacre in World WarⅡand the"anti-semitism". So the trend of"Jewishness"became"explicit". Of course, we can't divide the works into two irrelevant sections just by these two trends. In fact, most of Bellow's works are amalgamations of these two trends. Perhaps both of these two trends appear in one same book. We must distinct which trend is dominating in one novel. So my partition is not absolute but to grasp the dominating trend on the basis of careful analysis. At the same time, I will explain these two trends from three aspects: Jewish culture, Bellow's immigrant status and writer's duty.This thesis will fall into three parts:Part one is an introduction, including Bellow's experience and his works. Then I analyze the definition of"Jewishness", research about"Jewishness"in Bellow and his works, and the link between"Jewishness"and Bellow's experience. This part forms a basis for other two parts.Part two discusses two contrary trends——implicit trend and explicit trend. In some novels, the"Jewishness"is implicit, but if we analyze it carefully, we can find many traces of"Jewishness". The thesis will analyze these traces of"Jewishness"in detail. In other novels, the"Jewishness"is explicit. The thesis will elaborate them as exhaustive as possible. Finally, I stress that my partition is not absolute but to grasp the dominating trend on the basis of careful analysis. Most of Bellow's works show the characteristic of amalgamations of these two trends.Part three interprets the paradox from Bellow's cosmopolitan and his memory of Jewish. On the one hand, Bellow objected the title of"Jewish American writer"for thinking it narrow. He hid this title deliberately. And he thought that a writer should take the responsibility of telling truth. This is his implicit trend. On the other hand, as a real Jew, he received formal Jewish education in his childhood. And he can't ignore the history of Jew's disaster. So he needs to express his views every now and then. This is the explicit trend.On the whole, Bellow and his works are all complex paradoxes. The reason is that he carried too much. He not only had Jewish blood, but also had American-style desire; He shouldered the hope of the Jewish people, at the same time also took the responsibility as a novelist; He can't forget ethnic hatred, so he is destined to live in an environment fraught with difficulties. These are Bellow's paradox and his works'paradox. In short, we have many desires to an ideal world, but the reality is often very far from the ideal. The key lies in how we can achieve a balance between the two. Maybe these two contrary trends are reflections of Bellow's way to balance paradoxes.