An Existentialist Interpretation Of More Die Of Heartbreak

Saul Bellow is generally considered as the most significant American writer of his generation. Bellow is awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in1976because of his subtle analysis of contemporary culture and the human understanding which are combined in his works. More Die of Heartbreak, written in1987, is one of Bellow’s late works. This novel not only reflects Bellow’s thinking about love, marriage, and relationships between family members in contemporary society but shows the influence of Sartre’s existentialism on Saul Bellow in his understanding of human existence in modern world as well. This thesis focuses on exploring the existential tendency in the novel mainly through three aspects:the anxiety of people, the alienation of existence, and the quest for authentic-self, and attempts to study how Saul Bellow has successfully reflected the condition of human existence in More Die of Heartbreak.This thesis mainly consists of four chapters:The first chapter presents a brief introduction to the background of the author, and a summary of the novel in order that the reader can get a better understanding of the novel.The second chapter gives the important theories of Sartre’s existentialism used in this novel, which includes the anxiety of people, the alienation of existence and the the pursuit of authentic being. This chapter also reveals Saul Bellow’s Existentialist Tendency in More Die of Heartbreak.The third chapter points out the anxiety of people and alienation of existence in modern society. Sartre maintains that anxiety is a state of human being. It comes into being due to different reasons. And Saul Bellow shows us the causes of the main character’s anxiety in love and life in this chapter. And at the same time, man is in an alienated state in the modern world. And alienation basically embodies on the characters in this novel through two aspects including the alienation in marriage and the alienation in relationship between family members.The fourth chapter analyzes the quest for authentic-self; it presents people’s quest for freedom of choice, responsibility and attachment by focusing on the main characters’ psychological growth process and exploring the relationship between lovers and family members.To sum up, the anxiety and alienation are only the starting point of this novel. Saul Bellow aims at finding a new order in the absurd world. The only way to the meaningful existence is to reintegrate oneself with the absurd world and shoulder the responsibility. In the end of the novel, Benn’s choice of heading for the North Pole fully shows that man in modern society is able to find the authentic existence in the chaotic and absurd world.