A Study Of Identity In Saul Bellow’s Mid-term Novels

The representative writer of contemporary American Jewish literature,soul bellow,with his keen insight,deep thinking and high humanistic care,has written about the identity dilemma of Jewish immigrants in the United States and the universal survival confusion of people in contemporary American society.This paper focuses on the identity issues in Saul Bellow’s three mid-term novels Herzog,Mr.Semmler’s Planet and Humboldt’s Gift,It adopts Stuart Hall’s identity theory,combines with the writing tradition of American Jewish literature and the background of Bellow’s creation,and analyzes the cultural identity,family identity and professional identity of the main characters in the three novels,in order to observe the difficult process of identity and identity construction of Jewish immigrants in the United States and the development of American society in the second half of the 20 th century.This paper consists of three parts,each of which is as follows:The introduction is the first chapter.It first summarizes the research status of Saul Bellow and his works at home and abroad,and explains the results and trends of Bellow’s research by combing and summarizing research literature at home and abroad.Secondly,it briefly introduces the writing of identity in American Jewish literature,Stuart Hall’s identity theory and the significance of this thesis.The main body is divided into three chapters,which respectively discusses the identity crisis and identity construction process of the main characters’ cultural identity,family identity and professional identity in Bellow’s mid-term novels.The second chapter mainly discusses the dilemma of cross-cultural identity of American Jewish immigrants and the complex experience of immigrants in Bellow’s mid-term novels,and demonstrates it from three aspects: cultural collision and identity confusion,cultural change and identity evolution,Cultural integration and Immigration experience.By analyzing the identity confusion and identity evolution of American Jewish immigrants in Herzog,Mr.Semmler’s planet and Humboldt’s gift,this paper reveals the difficult process of establishing a new life and subjective identity of American Jews,and then presents the complex experience of Jewish immigrants in the process of "Americanization".The third chapter focuses on the performance of the identity crisis of American Jewish immigrants in the marriage and family relationship in Bellow’s mid-term works and their reflection and efforts to construct their own identity.This paper analyzes the identity status and marriage and family relationship of the two generations of Jewish immigrants in Herzog using close reading of the text,It finds that the marriage and family structure of Jewish immigrants in the United States tends to disintegrate,which is manifested in the rupture of traditional family relationship of parents and the disharmony of marriage and marriage relationship of immigrants.It points out the two-way relationship between identity and family status of American Jewish immigrants Influence.At the same time,by discussing the exploration of the ideal marriage and family relationship of the immigrants,it shows the Jewish people’s efforts to construct their self-identity in the love of brothers and heterosexuals,which represents the multicultural.The fourth chapter mainly analyzes the crisis of professional identity and identity belief of intellectuals in Bellow’s mid-term novels,and explains them from three aspects:the "loss" of intellectuals,the worries of intellectuals and the beliefs of intellectuals.Through the reality and spiritual exploration of Jewish intellectuals such as Herzog,Humboldt,Citrin and Semmler,this paper shows the marginalized situation and ideals and beliefs of intellectuals in the "age of poverty".The conclusion summarizes the main points of this paper,and points out that "identity" is not formed naturally or unchangeable,but a dynamic "identification process".Combining his own immigration experience and life experience,bellow weaves the identity dilemma and identity construction process of American Jewish immigrants and intellectuals into the literary text.He expresses the common identity problems faced by human beings in an allegorical way,at the same time,he expresses deep humanistic concern for the development direction of contemporary culture,and shows an intellectual’s sense of social responsibility.