Saul Bellow dead at 89

[litehaus]

"The quote he gets credit (or blame) for is "Where's the Zulu Tolstoy? I'll be glad to read him."

OUCH! cried Je$$e, Al,et al..............

[judgeandjury]

And Saul Bellow is...?

www.google.com

[litehaus]

"And Saul Bellow is...?"

Disheartening to see this on FR....Reminds me that during the 2000 election I wrote a Kerry supporter, brilliant computer type guy, and mentioned that he'd appreciate Ol' Noam...He wrote back saying he had " looked him up" and thought he was great.

I just wrote it off to youth and lack of reading anything outside his field of expertise.

[muir_redwoods]

I haven't read much of his work but I think you might be a trifle harsh. "Seize the Day" was a very good book, IMHO

[Borges]

It's the only book of his that was adapted to film. The 1986 film had Robin Williams and was a huge flop.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

"The backbone of 20th-century American literature has been provided by two novelists — William Faulkner and Saul Bellow," Philip Roth said Tuesday. "Together they are the Melville, Hawthorne, and Twain of the 20th century."

Well, here's to hyperbole. Give me a break.

[Borges]

He's half right. Faulkner is certainly right there with anyone. It's a toss up who number 2 is.

[TXBubba]

Yes, it probably has to do with youth. I've never heard of this guy either and none of his books sound familiar. But now I can go catch up some. After all I didn't know who Ayn Rand was until I got on FR either.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

Yes, I agree. I just didn't appreciate what appeared to be Roth's cronyism (trying to attach superlatives to a member of a group he is identified with by way of one who does deserve some superlatives).

Such statements about the arts are absurd anyway. "If Wagner were alive today he'd be composing heavy metal. If Shakespeare were alive today he'd be writing sitcoms."

Writers, especially novelists, are admired principally on matters of style (which is the content and how it is put forth). To try to rank them or compare them with predecessors speaks more about the ranker than the rankee.

[Physicist]

Bibliopath ping.

[rudy45]

Google is your friend....

[muir_redwoods]

As I recall it was far to internal a book to easily work as a movie. Far to much internal dialogue

[Tax-chick]

In December 1999, Bellow's fifth wife, Janis Freedman, gave birth to their daughter, Naomi. Bellow, 84 at the time,

Dang! Beat out Anthony Quinn to be the "Procreator of Judea," didn't he?

I confess I haven't read anything of Saul Bellow's that I recall ... library list.

[AmericanMade1776]

If Shakespeare was alive today...interesting concept.

[Malesherbes]

RIP Saul Bellow. Fathering a daughter at 84 is the ultimate rejection of the "culture of death," and a vote for the future.

[Physicist]

Writers, especially novelists, are admired principally on matters of style (which is the content and how it is put forth). To try to rank them or compare them with predecessors speaks more about the ranker than the rankee.

Recommended reading: Human Accomplishment by Charles Murray. Murray makes a game attempt at quantifying the "eminence" of creative geniuses in a time-independent and culture-normed way. I started out hostile to his theses, but he managed to convince me of almost all of them. Whether or not he succeeds in is a matter of opinion, but even as a failure it's extremely instructive.

[socal_parrot]

the tight-lipped machismo of Ernest Hemingway.

They say that like it's a bad thing.

RIP Saul Bellow

[Physicist]

Fathering a daughter at 84 is the ultimate rejection of the "culture of death," and a vote for the future.

Interesting. How do you feel about rock musicians and basketball stars who sire dozens of children with their groupies?

Granted that Bellow married his daughter's mother, but he set up that daughter to be just as fatherless as if he hadn't.

OTOH, I expect I'll probably see it differently when I'm 84.

[Sandy]

at age 84, a daughter

Holy moly! I didn't think that was possible. I wonder what the oldest on record is.

[RightWingAtheist]

Thanks for the ping. Bellow will be deeply missed.

Incidentally, how many others here first learned of Bellow when he was mentioned by Krusty's father on The Simpsons?