A Comparative Study Of The Differences Between Traditional Quest Literature And Bellovian Quest Fiction

Quest literature has a long history. Though the modern literature tends to go against the tradition, the theme of quest has not been abandoned. Human beings keep questing for meaning of existence, for freedom and for ideals. Countless writers are fascinated by the quest theme, and it is available both in the imminent new works and the old literature.Saul Bellow (1915-2005), who won the 1976 Nobel Prize for literature, created a series of quest novels. Influenced by both Modernism and Postmodernism, Bellow gives quest fiction new features. In this thesis, the author did a close reading of Bellovian novels, including Herzog (1964), Seize the Day (1956), The Adventures of Augie March (1953) and Henderson the Rain King (1959). And more importantly, the author made a comparison between traditional quest literature and Bellovian quest novels.The differences between traditional quest literature and Bellow’s quest novels lie in three aspects. The first is quest purpose. Quest purpose in traditional quest literature is to seek fortune, prestige or soul. A common story in the traditional quest novels is a brave warrior conquers monsters to save a beautiful princess, and then he marries her and becomes the new king. While in Bellow’s quest novels, the purpose is to pursue self and escape, as a remedies for people’s anguish and stress in the chaotic modern world. In the age of post-industrial civilization, many social problems appear with the highly developed rich society, which results in people’s alienation and despair. As a result, the quest purposes in traditional quest literature and in Bellow’s have distinctive differences. The second is questers. In traditional quest literature, questers are heroes, and they can always accomplish their quest goals. However, in Bellow’s quest fiction, questers transform into anti-heroes. What’s more, their quests all fail and they get nothing in the end. The third is the narrative techniques. Traditional quest literature uses conventional narrative techniques, such as closed ending, episodic structure, and the first-person point of view. While in Bellow’s quest novels, modern or postmodern narrative techniques, like stream of consciousness, time montage and open-ending are adopted.The comparison between the traditional quest literature and Bellovian quest novels unfolded us a clear vision of the features of quest fiction, and the development of it. From the analysis of the thesis, it can be disclosed that Bellow’s quest fiction not only inherits the basic characteristic of conventional quest novels but transcends them, allowing more possibilities for modern themes and techniques.