Loss And Recovery Of Self-identity In Saul Bellow's Herzog

Saul Bellow is a prominent Jewish American writer whose works "widely influenced American literature after World War II." In his writing career that lasts more than 60 years, Bellow has produced a substantial number of works, and has received numerous awards, including Pulitzer Prize, three times of National Book Award, Nobel Prize in 1976, etc.. Herzog is one of his major works, the publication of which draws tremendous attention from both readers and critics, and confirms his status as "major" American novelist.This thesis sets out to approach this novel from the perspective of "identity", exploring how Herzog loses his self-identity after a series of heavy blows in his life and later recovers it by means of meditation and making reconciliation with reality.The thesis consists of five parts. The first chapter traces the development of Jewish American literature, gives a detailed introduction to Bellow's life, career, and outstanding contribution to American literature, and briefly summarizes the researches and criticism on Herzog across the world.The second chapter explores the causes of Herzog's loss of identity. First, the social context is studied to analyze the influences on Herzog's miserable personal experiences exerted by major changes that took place in economy, politics and culture in the 20th-century American society. The study of the social background provides a reasonable explanation as for what pushes Herzog, the idealistic scholar who is obsessed with Romanticism, into a bewildered and lost situation in this turbulent age when old and new thoughts confront, and traditional morals and values are unprecedentedly challenged. Then, as Jewish identity constitutes the identity Herzog has lost, the implicit influences on Herzog from Jewish culture and tradition are also discussed. And assimilation and anti-assimilation, characteristic of Jewish cultural tradition, is adopted to explain Herzog's marginality.The third chapter marks out Herzog's spiritual journey to explore truth and order after he retreats to complete solitude. A series of devastating incidents in his personal life makes Herzog believe the world is highly depraved and intolerably brutal, and thus he decides to detach himself totally from it. In this chapter, Herzog's actions of self-imprisonment are first listed and evaluated, and a conclusion is reached that communication and interaction with the outside world is indispensable for his recovery of self identity. The secluded scholar then sets out to work for solutions for his problem in his interior world. The rest of this chapter thus focuses on how Herzog regains self-identity and equilibrium in his life through introspection of his happy childhood in the Jewish ghetto, meditation and contention with different schools of thoughts.The fourth chapter is devoted to the research on Herzog's recovery of sanity, self-identity and his return to normal life by making reconciliation with reality. As identity is human being's social attribute, to recover his identity Herzog must go back to the disappointingly imperfect world, which makes his reconciliation with society unavoidable. This chapter first examines the reconciliation Herzog makes in terms beliefs and outlooks: he stops judging people against standards of black and white; he is no longer obsessed with the absolute truth; he is able to positively accept death's existence and confront it rather than evading it. Then the chapter analyses a great leap Herzog makes on his way of salvation—forgiving his enemies. The discovery of sparkles of love and care from ungrateful Gersbach sets Herzog free from bitter hatred and intense anger. The end of the chapter discusses Herzog's regain of self-identity and harmonious life by abandoning self estrangement, resuming interaction with others and returning to his community.The last chapter briefly summarizes the complicated process of Herzog's loss and recovery of self-identity.