Saul Bellow and Imagination

Abstract

As this quotation indicates clearly, Saul Bellow (1915~) definitely rejects the modernist's common assumption that "humankind has reached a terminal point." He insists that however dismal and bleak the contemporary situation may be, the novlist cannot and should not give the "apocalyptic interpretation" of human history. Indeed, there are misery and wretchedness; the ultimate nihilistic belief beckons the novelist. But it is a temptation which should be overcome. Declaration of "the last word," that man is finished, is a reckless exaggeration. It is "misrepresenting ourselves to ourselves."2l One of the surest ways to tell the truth probably lies in the realization that man is neither so great nor so insignificant. The deepest truth is to be found in the correct understanding of "being human." Bellow urges the novelist to cast away "a conventional unearned wretchedness, a bitterness about existence which is mere fashion." The novelist should "trust his own sense of life." Thisis the fundamental position of Bellow the novelist.