Herzog’s Spiritual Quest

Herzog is the representative work written by Saul Bellow, who is considered as the most brilliant American novelist in the latter half of20’ century. The novel depicts the protagonist Moses Herzog who undergoes spiritual crisis and hopes to reestablish himself in his spiritual quest. He transcends from the prior chaos, alienation to final calmness and restoration. The novel presents a comprehensive picture of the spiritual crisis of a modern Jewish American intellectual. Based on a close-reading of Herzog, this thesis makes a systematic study on Herzog’s spiritual quest-his quest for love, authentic being and cultural identity.Apart from Introduction and Conclusion, this thesis consists of three chapters. Chapter One probes into Herzog’s pursuit of love including the love between husband and wife, the love between parents and children, and the universal love. The love between husband and wife is the combination of body and soul, tolerance and mutual understanding. Meanwhile, he realizes the importance of responsibility in the love between parents and children. Furthermore, in his pursuit of universal love, he learns to forgive his enemies, to concern for the existential situation of whole human beings and to accept the imperfect humanity.Chapter Two elaborates Herzog’s search for his authentic being. It is realized through three aspects:reaffirming the value of self, returning to nature and accepting a peaceful death. In search for his authentic being, he realizes the significance of self, nature and death to his existence.Chapter Three further clarifies Herzog’s quest for his cultural identity as a Jew. As a Jewish intellectual, he confronts the dilemma between Judaism and Americanism. In the dual cultural conflicts, on the one hand, he shows strong attachment to Jewish culture and chooses to preserve his cultural root. On the other hand, he realizes the influence of Americanization, and attempts to achieve the merging of Judaism and Americanization.To sum up, as a modern Jewish intellectual, through his questing for love, authentic being and cultural identity, Moses Herzog has come full circle to realize his spiritual quest. This thesis aims to present the existential predicament of a modern Jewish intellectual by the discussion of his spiritual quest. The interpretation on Herzog’s spiritual quest provides us with an access to a better understanding of Bellow’s humanistic concern for the modern man’s spiritual crisis.