Herzog As An Embodiment Of Saul Bellow's Attachment To Jewish Culture

As a noted Jewish-American writer, Saul Bellow's works have received great concern worldwide. By now, he is undoubtedly one of the most discussed fiction writers of the contemporary American period. With regard to the Jewish culture inherent in his works, it has not yet been given the due importance. In this thesis, a study is to be conducted on the analysis of the intellectual in Bellow's novels, Herzog, from the perspective of the Jewish culture and its influence on Saul Bellow, with the aim of a better understanding of the Jewish culture and its impact on the Jewish-American intellectuals, and thereby a further understanding of the overall situations of them in modern American society.This thesis is made up of five parts, the first of which is the introduction. In this part, Bellow's important literary position and great contribution to the world literature are handled through a comparison of Bellow with other Jewish-American writers. The author also gives a brief introduction to the present research into Saul Bellow and his works home and abroad. Chapter one first gives a brief survey of two outstanding features of Jewish literature and his literary creation. Chapter Two lays its importance on the analysis of the biblical motifs in the novel. Chapter Three covers the paradox of the Jewish culture. The thesis concludes as follows: The Jewish elements in Saul Bellow's fictional world, either in their strict Jewish appearance or universal images, are concrete expression of Saul Bellow's deep attachment to the Jewish tradition, incarnating Bellow's assimilation and distillation of his Jewish background. The originality of the thesis lies in that it makes attempts to explore the Jewish elements imbedded in Herzog with the method of cultural poetics. The thesis serves as a systematic study of the Jewish culture.