SAUL BELLOW'S REJECTION OF MODERNISM

The most discernible thematic development in Saul Bellow's nine novels is the movement from acceptance of Modernist philosophy and literary formulas, to his open rejection of these in later works. Dangling Man and The Victim reflect Bellow's mastery of tight formalist literary style and the major preoccupations of the existentialist novel. In The Adventures of Augie March Bellow begins his rejection of formalist style, absurdism, historicism, wasteland ideology, existentialist nihilism and the concept of the divided Self. Seize the Day employs Modernist philosophical premises on the surface, but it reverses these in the conclusion. Henderson the Rain King is a thematic and stylistic parody of the modern novel. Herzog reflects the hero's escape from destructive Modernist ideas and his painful recovery of the private Self. Mr. Sammler's Planet examines the legacy of Modernist nihilism and the means of recovery, while Humboldt's Gift explores the existentialist death question from an anti-absurdist viewpoint.