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The Qualified Affirmation of Saul Bellow's Recent Work

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 January 2009

Jennifer M. Bailey
Affiliation:
University of Leicester

Extract

Since the publication of Mr Sammler's Planet in 1969, it has been difficult to anticipate the development of Saul Bellow's fiction. Although this novel is Bellow's most disappointing work, its obvious limitations are anticipated in Herzog. There is a strong thread of ambiguous irony which, in Bellow's most recent novel, has deepened into unintentional parody. This is, I would suggest, a symptom of Bellow's inability to balance his protagonists' subjective reality with a convincing version of their social milieu.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1973

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References

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