A Study Of Power Relations In Saul Bellow's More Die Of Heartbreak

Saul Bellow, one of the most distinguished American writers, is widely recognized as the only contemporary writer who is of as parallel importance as Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner after World War II. Because of his human understanding and subtle analysis of contemporary culture, Bellow was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1976. Bellow's novels concern human spiritual crisis in the materialistic society, concern human existence and value, concern human spiritual struggle and quest. It can be said that he tells the contemporary crisis and reveals the modern people's desires.More Die of Heartbreak, written in 1987, is one of Bellow's late works. This novel embodies Bellow's thinking about marriage, love and interpersonal relationships in contemporary society. This thesis intends to analyze More Die of Heartbreak, according to Michel Foucault's micro-power theory, focusing on the male protagonist and the narrator's psychological growth process and exploring the relationship between husband and wife , between lovers and between family members, highlighting that the repressive power relations are negative, deprecatory; while the productive power relations are positive and commendatory.This thesis consists of five chapters:The first chapter gives a brief introduction to the background of the author, a brief summary of the novel and the critical comments on the author and the novel.The second chapter presents Michel Foucault's definition of power and the significance of studying More Die of Heartbreak from a power perspectiveThe third chapter points out the repressive power relations in the novel, according to Foucault's power theory, focusing on the male protagonist's psychological growth process and exploring the relationship between husband and wife and between family members, highlighting that the repressive power relations are negative and deprecatory.The fourth chapter analyzes the productive power relations in the novel, focusing on the narrator's psychological growth process and exploring the relationship between lovers and family members, highlighting that the productive power relations are positive and commendatory.The fifth chapter is the conclusion which intends to call on people living in modern materialistic society to get rid of confusion, actively foster a new attitude toward life and establish harmonious interpersonal relationships.