A Study On The Postmodernist Elements In Ravelstein

Ravelstein is the last novel of Saul Bellow, the Nobel laureate in AmericanLiterature. The paper aims to probe into the postmodernist elements which includethe indeterminate character, the alienation theme, the Jewish issues in thepostmodern context and irony and the scattered structure to discuss the issues of thealienation and ethnic groups in Ravelstein.There are three parts in this paper, which are the body part, the introduction andthe conclusion. The introduction includes the postmodernist elements in Ravelstein,the general review of Ravelstein, the theory of postmodernism, the main parts of thispaper, as well as the significance of the paper. The body part falls into three chapter.Chapter one probes into the indeterminate character and the alienation. Chapter Twofocuses on the Jewish issues in the postmodern context. The main contents of thischapter are the Americanization of the Holocaust in the postmodern context and thesearch for the self-identity in the alienation world. The last chapter analyzes theirony and the scattered structure which embody the postmodern writing skills. Ironyand the scattered structure reflect the broken world of alienation perfectly. The lastpart of the paper is the conclusion which mainly focuses on the structure and thesignificance of the paper.Through analyzing these postmodernist elements, Bellow displays his worryabout the alienation world which is abundant in materials and short of spiritualdemands as well as the destroyed nature. In addition, Bellow also exposes hisconcern about the importance of maintaining one’s ethnic traits and his humanitarianconcern about the harmonious coexistence between different ethnic groups. Besides,these postmodernist elements also trigger the readers’ understanding of Bellow’snovels from different perspectives.