Saul Bellow Loners Image: Narrative And Discourse Analysis

In American literary criticism there is a generally well-accepted view that Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner and Saul Bellow constituted the three best writers in 20th century America. That was an appropriate evaluation in terms of their creativity and achievements as the undisputable masters in novel writing as well as their influence in America and even the world, even though Saul Bellow was the only one who survived when the point of view came to be accepted. Now Saul Bellow is regarded as the most distinguished contemporary novelist in America and he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1976 " for the human understanding and subtle analysis of contemporary culture that are combined in his work".Dangling Man and Herzog represent the two creative writing periods of Saul Bellow because both bear the unique artistic style and extraordinary narrative modes. The former is a novel in diary form that fully expresses the inner sufferings of Joseph, the hero and narrator of the novel. Saul Bellow successfully depicts the inner world of Joseph by "showing ", a traditional narrative mode of revealing characters. The latter can be called the masterwork of Saul Bellow who applied two narrators (the first person narrator and the third person narrator) and three points of views (limited omniscient point of view, omniscient point of view and character's limited point of view) to uncover the inner conflict and anxiety of the Herzog. In Herzog Bellow creatively used letters written by Herzog and avoided the monotony of epistolary novels.The modes of discourse in both novels are perfect. The dramatic monologue between Joseph and his other self makes Dangling Man unique in style and the FISand FDS in Herzog make it a everlasting bestseller.Besides the various evilness in social life and the spiritual crisis of the intellectuals reflected in his novels, Saul Bellow's contribution to American narratology made him best among the distinguished masters.