Saul Bellow

Saul Bellow (born Solomon Bellows; June 10, 1915 – April 5, 2005) was a prominent Canadian-American author. His significant literary contributions were recognized with numerous accolades, including the Pulitzer Prize, the 1976 Nobel Prize in Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. Notably, he remains the sole recipient of the National Book Award for Fiction on three occasions, and in 1990, he was honored with the National Book Foundation's lifetime Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.

Saul Bellow (born Solomon Bellows; June 10, 1915 – April 5, 2005) was a Canadian-American writer. For his literary work, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the 1976 Nobel Prize in Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only writer to win the National Book Award for Fiction three times, and he received the National Book Foundation's lifetime Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters in 1990.

The Swedish Nobel Committee lauded his prose, describing it as "the mixture of rich picaresque novel and subtle analysis of our culture, of entertaining adventure, drastic and tragic episodes in quick succession interspersed with philosophic conversation, all developed by a commentator with a witty tongue and penetrating insight into the outer and inner complications that drive us to act, or prevent us from acting, and that can be called the dilemma of our age." Among his most celebrated literary works are The Adventures of Augie March, Henderson the Rain King, Herzog, Mr. Sammler's Planet, Seize the Day, Humboldt's Gift, and Ravelstein.

Bellow himself identified Eugene Henderson, a character from Henderson the Rain King, as the protagonist most closely resembling him. Having immigrated from Quebec, Bellow's personal background influenced his literary output. Christopher Hitchens observed that Bellow's narratives and central figures frequently embody a profound desire for transcendence, striving "to overcome not just ghetto conditions but also ghetto psychoses." His protagonists often confront what Albert Corde, the dean in The Dean's December, termed "the big-scale insanities of the 20th century." This pursuit of transcendence from the "unutterably dismal" (a phrase originating from Dangling Man) is depicted as attainable, if at all, through a "ferocious assimilation of learning" (Hitchens) and a steadfast commitment to nobility.

Biography

Early life

Saul Bellow, originally named Solomon Bellows, was born in Lachine, Quebec. This occurred two years subsequent to his parents, Lescha (née Gordin) and Abraham Bellows, emigrating from Saint Petersburg, Russia. He was the youngest of four children, with elder siblings including Zelda (later Jane, born in 1907), Moishe (later Maurice, born in 1908), and Schmuel (later Samuel, born in 1911). The Bellow family was of Lithuanian-Jewish heritage, with his father originating from Vilnius. While Bellow observed his birthday on June 10, records from the Jewish Genealogical Society-Montreal suggest a birth date of July 10. (Within the Jewish community, the practice of recording the Hebrew date of birth often results in a discrepancy with the Gregorian calendar.) Reflecting on his family's emigration, Bellow penned:

The retrospective was strong in me because of my parents. They were both full of the notion that they were falling, falling. They had been prosperous cosmopolitans in Saint Petersburg. My mother could never stop talking about the family dacha, her privileged life, and how all that was now gone. She was working in the kitchen. Cooking, washing, mending ... There had been servants in Russia ... But you could always transpose from your humiliating condition with the help of a sort of embittered irony.

An illness stemming from a respiratory infection at the age of eight proved formative for Bellow, fostering self-reliance—a trait he maintained despite a largely sedentary profession—and enabling him to indulge his passion for reading. It is reported that his decision to pursue writing was solidified upon his initial encounter with Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin.

At the age of nine, Bellow's family relocated to the Humboldt Park neighborhood on Chicago's West Side, a locale that subsequently served as the setting for numerous of his novels. His father, Abraham, engaged in various occupations, including onion importing, bakery work, coal delivery, and bootlegging. Bellow's mother, Liza, a devoutly religious woman who aspired for her youngest son, Saul, to become either a rabbi or a concert violinist, passed away when he was seventeen. Despite her wishes, Bellow resisted what he later characterized as the "suffocating orthodoxy" of his religious education, commencing his writing career early in life. His enduring appreciation for the Torah was cultivated from the age of four, coinciding with his learning of Hebrew. Additionally, Bellow's formative years included extensive reading of Shakespeare and the prominent 19th-century Russian novelists.

Saul Bellow engaged in anthroposophical studies at the Anthroposophical Society of Chicago. During his attendance at Tuley High School on Chicago's west side, Bellow formed friendships with Yetta Barsh and Isaac Rosenfeld. The character King Dahfu in Bellow's 1959 novel, Henderson the Rain King, was reportedly modeled after Rosenfeld.

Education and Early Career

Bellow initially enrolled at the University of Chicago before transferring to Northwestern University. Although his original intention was to pursue literature, he perceived the English department as exhibiting anti-Jewish sentiment. Consequently, he earned an honors degree in anthropology and sociology. Scholars have posited that Bellow's anthropological studies significantly influenced his literary style, with numerous anthropological references evident throughout his oeuvre. Subsequently, he undertook graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin.

John Podhoretz, paraphrasing Bellow's description of his close friend Allan Bloom (see Ravelstein), observed that both Bellow and Bloom "inhaled books and ideas the way the rest of us breathe air."

During the 1930s, Bellow participated in the Chicago branch of the Federal Writers' Project, an initiative that also included future literary figures such as Richard Wright and Nelson Algren. A significant number of these writers held radical political views; many were either members of the Communist Party USA or sympathetic to its objectives. Bellow, a Trotskyist, frequently endured taunts from the more numerous Stalinist-leaning writers within the project.

Bellow obtained naturalized United States citizenship in 1941, a process initiated after he discovered, upon attempting to enlist in the armed forces, that his childhood immigration to the United States had been illegal. By 1943, Maxim Lieber served as his literary agent.

During World War II, Bellow served in the merchant marine, a period during which he completed his debut novel, Dangling Man (1944). This work chronicles the experiences of a young Chicago man awaiting conscription into the war.

Bellow held a teaching position at the University of Minnesota from 1946 to 1948. In the autumn of 1947, subsequent to a promotional tour for his novel The Victim, he relocated to a spacious, older residence situated at 58 Orlin Avenue SE within Minneapolis's Prospect Park neighborhood.

In 1948, Bellow received a Guggenheim Fellowship, which facilitated his move to Paris and the commencement of his novel The Adventures of Augie March (1953). Literary critics have noted the thematic and structural similarities between Bellow's picaresque narrative and the renowned 17th-century Spanish classic, Don Quixote. The novel commences with one of American literature's most celebrated opening paragraphs, subsequently tracing its eponymous protagonist through a succession of occupations and encounters, as he navigates life through ingenuity and determination. Characterized by its colloquial yet philosophical prose, The Adventures of Augie March solidified Bellow's standing as a preeminent author.

In 1953, Bellow undertook the translation of Isaac Bashevis Singer's work, Gimpel the Fool, from Yiddish into English.

Bellow returned to teach at the University of Minnesota in 1958. During this period, both he and his wife, Sasha, underwent psychoanalysis with Paul Meehl, a Psychology Professor at the University of Minnesota.

During the spring term of 1961, Bellow instructed creative writing at the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras. Among his students was William Kennedy, whom Bellow encouraged to pursue fiction writing.

Return to Chicago and Mid-Career

After residing in New York City for several years, Bellow relocated to Chicago in 1962, assuming a professorial role within the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago. This committee aimed to foster close collaboration between faculty and gifted graduate students through a multidisciplinary educational framework. Among his students was the poet Tom Mandel. Bellow maintained his teaching position on the committee for over three decades, working alongside his close friend, the philosopher Allan Bloom.

Bellow's decision to return to Chicago, where he settled in the Hyde Park neighborhood with his third wife, Susan Glassman, was influenced by additional factors. He perceived Chicago as simultaneously vulgar and vital, considering it more emblematic of America than New York City. This relocation allowed him to maintain connections with former high school acquaintances and a diverse array of societal members. A 1982 profile characterized Bellow's neighborhood as a high-crime urban center, with Bellow asserting the necessity for a writer to inhabit such an environment and "stick to his guns."

Bellow achieved bestseller status in 1964 with his novel Herzog. He expressed astonishment at the commercial success of this intellectually demanding novel, which chronicles a middle-aged, troubled college professor who drafts unsent correspondence to acquaintances, academics, and deceased individuals. Bellow revisited the theme of mental instability and its correlation with genius in his 1975 novel Humboldt's Gift. He modeled the novel's titular character, Von Humboldt Fleisher, after his deceased friend and rival, the brilliant yet self-destructive poet Delmore Schwartz. Bellow also incorporated Rudolf Steiner's spiritual science, anthroposophy, as a thematic element, having participated in a Chicago-based study group. In 1969, he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Nobel Prize and Later Career

Building on the success of Humboldt's Gift, Bellow was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1976. During his 70-minute acceptance speech delivered to an audience in Stockholm, Sweden, Bellow urged writers to serve as guiding lights for civilization, rousing it from intellectual inertia.

In the subsequent year, the National Endowment for the Humanities chose Bellow to deliver the Jefferson Lecture, the United States federal government's preeminent accolade for accomplishments in the humanities. His lecture was titled "The Writer and His Country Look Each Other Over."

Between December 1981 and March 1982, Bellow served as the Visiting Lansdowne Scholar and Writer-in-Residence at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1998.

Bellow undertook extensive travels throughout his life, primarily to Europe, often visiting twice annually. In his youth, Bellow journeyed to Mexico City with the intention of meeting Leon Trotsky; however, the exiled Russian revolutionary was assassinated the day prior to their scheduled encounter. Bellow maintained a broad and diverse network of social connections. He accompanied Robert F. Kennedy for a magazine profile that ultimately remained unwritten, and cultivated a close friendship with author Ralph Ellison. His extensive circle of acquaintances included journalist Sydney J. Harris and poet John Berryman.

Although initial sales of Bellow's early novels were modest, this trend reversed significantly with the publication of Herzog. Bellow maintained his teaching career into advanced age, valuing the human interaction and intellectual exchange it offered. His academic appointments included positions at Yale University, the University of Minnesota, New York University, Princeton University, the University of Puerto Rico, the University of Chicago, Bard College, and Boston University, where he co-taught a course with James Wood, reputedly 'modestly absenting himself' during discussions of Seize the Day. To assume his position at Boston University, Bellow relocated from Chicago to Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1993, where he subsequently passed away on April 5, 2005, at the age of 89. His interment occurred at the Shir HeHarim Jewish cemetery in Brattleboro, Vermont.

In addition to his voluminous reading, Bellow engaged in violin playing and followed various sports. Although writing remained a constant endeavor, he occasionally progressed at a deliberate pace on his novels, which sometimes caused frustration for his publishing company.

His initial literary contributions established his reputation as a significant 20th-century novelist, and by the time of his death, he was broadly considered one of the era's foremost living novelists. He holds the distinction of being the first author to secure three National Book Awards across all categories. His friend and protégé, Philip Roth, remarked, "The foundational strength of 20th-century American literature has been supplied by two novelists—William Faulkner and Saul Bellow. Collectively, they represent the Melville, Hawthorne, and Twain of their century." In a eulogy for Bellow published in The New Republic, James Wood observed:

The author evaluated all contemporary prose against Bellow's standard. This comparison was arguably inequitable, as Bellow's writing rendered even the most agile authors, such as Updike, DeLillo, and Roth, appear comparatively less dynamic. However, this critical perspective seemed unavoidable. Upon encountering Saul Bellow's prose during adolescence, the author developed an enduring admiration, akin to an openly acknowledged profound attachment. Recent discourse has extensively analyzed Bellow's prose, with much of the commendation—predominantly from male critics—emphasizing its robust qualities. This includes discussions of his integration of elevated and vernacular registers, the interplay between Melvillean cadences and vibrant Yiddish rhythms, and the expansive, democratic portrayal of diverse characters—including criminals, fraudsters, and intellectuals—within his vivid fictional worlds. While these observations hold merit, John Cheever's journals reveal his concern that his own narratives appeared insignificant when juxtaposed with Bellow's substantial fiction. Ian McEwan astutely proposed that British authors and critics were likely drawn to Bellow's work for its preservation of a Dickensian scope, a quality increasingly absent in contemporary English literature. Nevertheless, the aesthetic dimensions of his writing—its musicality, profound lyricism, and the palpable, rich enjoyment of language itself—often remained unacknowledged. Ultimately, the author expressed an enduring gratitude for Bellow's literary contributions, both during his lifetime and subsequently.

Personal life

Saul Bellow entered into matrimony five times; all but his final marriage concluded in divorce. His spouses included Anita Goshkin, Alexandra (Sondra) Tschacbasov (daughter of the painter Nahum Tschacbasov), Susan Glassman, Alexandra Ionescu Tulcea, and Janis Freedman.

Greg, his son from his first marriage, pursued a career as a psychotherapist and authored Saul Bellow's Heart: A Son's Memoir in 2013, approximately ten years after his father's passing. Adam, Bellow's son from his second marriage, published the nonfiction work In Praise of Nepotism in 2003. Daniel, his son from his third marriage, is recognized as a potter, writer, and former journalist. In 1999, at the age of 84, Bellow welcomed his fourth child and first daughter with Janis Freedman.

Bellow was a frequent patron of Woodlawn Tap, a tavern located in Hyde Park that was favored by writers and academics.

Themes and style

Bellow's literary themes encompass the pervasive disorientation within contemporary society and the human capacity to transcend personal vulnerabilities to attain greatness or profound self-awareness. He critically observed numerous deficiencies in modern civilization, particularly its propensity to cultivate irrationality, materialism, and deceptive forms of knowledge. The protagonists in Bellow's narratives frequently possess heroic potential, often serving as foils to the detrimental influences of societal structures. These characters are frequently Jewish, experiencing feelings of alienation or distinct otherness.

While Jewish life and identity constitute a significant thematic element in Bellow's oeuvre, he reportedly resisted being categorized solely as a "Jewish writer." Furthermore, his writings reflect a profound appreciation for America and a deep fascination with the distinctive and dynamic nature of the American experience.

Bellow's literary output is replete with allusions to and quotations from figures such as Marcel Proust and Henry James, yet he frequently counterbalances these high-cultural references with humor. He integrated autobiographical components into his fiction, leading to observations that many of his central characters bore a notable resemblance to him.

Assessment

Martin Amis characterized Bellow as "The greatest American author ever, in my view."

His sentences possess a singular gravitas unmatched by others. He operates akin to a force of nature, transgressing conventional literary norms. The characters within Bellow's fiction, though authentically rendered, are imbued with an intense scrutiny that, through their specificities, ultimately reveals universal truths.

Linda Grant articulated that Bellow's fiction conveyed the profound message that "it was worth it, being alive."

Bellow's vigor, vitality, humor, and passion were consistently complemented by an unwavering commitment to profound thought, contrasting sharply with the pre-digested clichés prevalent in mass media or among leftist ideologies, which had increasingly alienated him by the 1960s. While becoming a 'writer of conscience' might appear straightforward—requiring merely the selection of a cause—Bellow distinguished himself as an author deeply engaged with conscience and consciousness. He perpetually grappled with the conflicting pressures of urban life, the individual's inherent drive for survival against formidable challenges, and an equally compelling need for affection and a profound comprehension of meaning beyond societal clamor and corruption.

Critics of Bellow, conversely, often characterized his literary output as conventional and anachronistic, suggesting an attempt to resurrect the 19th-century European novel. Vladimir Nabokov, in a private correspondence, dismissed Bellow as a "miserable mediocrity." However, journalist and author Ron Rosenbaum identified Bellow's 2000 novel, Ravelstein, as the sole work transcending the author's perceived literary shortcomings. Rosenbaum articulated his perspective as follows:

My critique of Bellow's work preceding Ravelstein stems from his frequent and often forced attempts to reconcile two somewhat incongruous facets of his persona and writing style. On one hand, there is the street-savvy, "Windy City wiseguy"; on the other, seemingly intended to demonstrate the "wiseguy's" profound wisdom, are underdeveloped segments of obscure, and not entirely compelling, philosophical discourse and conjecture. These elements appear to be included primarily to assert the intellectual gravitas of his novels, implying that the material and corporeal aspects within his prose are simultaneously represented and transformed.

Kingsley Amis, father of Martin Amis, expressed a less favorable opinion of Bellow's work. In 1971, Amis contended that crime novelist John D. MacDonald "is by any standards a better writer than Saul Bellow."

In 2007, Sam Tanenhaus posed a question in The New York Times Book Review:

However, what accounts for the numerous flaws—the protracted passages and digressions, the didactic expositions on anthroposophy and religion, the obscure bibliographies? What of the characters who exhibit no development or evolution, instead merely appearing fully formed on the page, even the vibrant marginalized figures who declaim like fervent students in Bellow's University of Chicago seminars? Furthermore, what of the harshly caricatured former wives, seemingly derived from the extensive records of the novelist's personal marital strife?

Tanenhaus subsequently provided a response to his own inquiry:

Indeed, deficiencies exist. Yet, what is their ultimate significance? Nature does not guarantee perfection, nor do novelists. Moreover, who among us possesses the capacity to recognize perfection if it were encountered? Regardless, the application of any critical methodology appeared ineffectual when evaluating an author whom Randall Jarrell, in his assessment of Walt Whitman, described as 'a world, a waste with, here and there, systems blazing at random out of the darkness'—systems 'as beautifully and astonishingly organized as the rings and satellites of Saturn.'

V. S. Pritchett lauded Bellow's literary contributions, particularly identifying his shorter works as his most accomplished. Pritchett specifically characterized Bellow's novella Seize the Day as a "small gray masterpiece."

Political Perspectives

With advancing age, Bellow progressively distanced himself from left-wing political ideologies, aligning instead with cultural conservatism. He became briefly embroiled in the contentious discourse surrounding African American–Jewish relations. Alfred Kazin reported Bellow's purported statement: "Who is the Tolstoy of the Zulus? The Proust of the Papuans? I'd be glad to read him." Bellow subsequently somewhat disavowed these comments, describing them as "off the cuff obviously and pedantic certainly," yet maintaining that the "scandal is entirely journalistic in origin." Nevertheless, he reiterated his opposition to political correctness, asserting:

Within any genuinely open society, the preposterousness of a trivial "thought-police" campaign, instigated by the senseless amplification of "discriminatory" comments concerning the Papuans and the Zulus, would be met with derision. Adopting such a fanatical earnestness constitutes a form of Stalinism—a Stalinist gravity and adherence to the party line that individuals of my generation recall vividly. ... Currently, rage enjoys considerable prestige. As the antithesis of bourgeois prudence, rage is a luxury; it is considered distinguished, a patrician emotion. The indignation expressed by rappers and rioters presupposes the majority's acknowledgment of culpability for historical and contemporary injustices, relying on the admiration of the repressed for the emotional force of the uninhibited and "justifiably" angry. Furthermore, rage can be manipulative, serving as a tool for censorship and despotism.

Despite his strong association with Chicago, Saul Bellow maintained a certain detachment from some of the city's more conventional literary figures. In a 2006 interview with Stop Smiling magazine, Studs Terkel reflected on Bellow, stating, "I didn't know him too well. We disagreed on a number of things politically." Terkel recounted an incident during the protests preceding Norman Mailer's Armies of the Night, when Mailer, Robert Lowell, and Paul Goodman marched against the Vietnam War. Bellow, invited to a counter-gathering, readily accepted, making a significant public display of his participation rather than a simple affirmation. Terkel subsequently sent Bellow a letter expressing his disapproval, to which Bellow responded by labeling Terkel a "Stalinist." Nevertheless, Terkel noted, "But otherwise, we were friendly. He was a brilliant writer, of course. I love Seize the Day."

Efforts to designate a street in Bellow's honor within his Hyde Park neighborhood were obstructed by local alderman Toni Preckwinkle. The decision was based on concerns that Bellow had made remarks about the area's residents perceived as racist. Consequently, a one-block segment of West Augusta Boulevard in Humboldt Park was instead officially named Saul Bellow Way.

Bellow was an initial proponent of U.S. English, an organization established in the early 1980s by John Tanton and former Senator S. I. Hayakawa, which advocates for English as the official language of the United States. However, he terminated his affiliation with the group in 1988.

Awards and Honors

• 1948 Guggenheim Fellowship
• 1954 National Book Award for Fiction
• 1965 National Book Award for Fiction
• 1971 National Book Award for Fiction
• 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
• 1976 Nobel Prize in Literature
• 1980 O. Henry Award
• 1986 St. Louis Literary Award from the Saint Louis University Library Associates
• 1988 National Medal of Arts
• 1989 PEN/Malamud Award
• 1989 Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award
• 1990 National Book Foundation's Lifetime Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters
• 1997 National Jewish Book Award for The Actual
• 2010 Inducted into the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame.
• On February 6, 2024, the United States Postal Service issued a three-ounce commemorative stamp honoring Saul Bellow in Chicago. The stamp features a portrait illustration created by Joe Ciardiello.

Bellow's artistic legacy is preserved within the National Portrait Gallery's collection, which includes six portraits: a photograph by Irving Penn, a painting by Sarah Yuster, a bust by Sara Miller, and drawings by Edward Sorel and Arthur Herschel Lidov. A replica of the Miller bust was installed at the Harold Washington Library Center in 1993. Bellow's extensive papers are housed within the library archives of the University of Chicago.

Bibliography

Novels and Novellas

• Dangling Man (1944)
• The Victim (1947)
• The Adventures of Augie March (1953), National Book Award for Fiction
• Seize the Day (1956)
• Henderson the Rain King (1959)
• Herzog (1964), National Book Award
• Mr. Sammler's Planet (1970), National Book Award
• Humboldt's Gift (1975), winner of the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
• The Dean's December (1982)
• More Die of Heartbreak (1987)
• A Theft (1989)
• The Bellarosa Connection (1989)
• The Actual (1997)
• Ravelstein (2000)

Short Story Collections

• Mosby's Memoirs and Other Stories (1968)
• Him with His Foot in His Mouth and Other Stories (1984)
• Something to Remember Me By: Three Tales (1991)
• Collected Stories (2001)

Plays

• The Last Analysis (1965)

Library of America Editions

• Novels 1944–1953: Dangling Man, The Victim, The Adventures of Augie March (2003)
• Novels 1956–1964: Seize the Day, Henderson the Rain King, Herzog (2007)
• Novels 1970–1982: Mr. Sammler's Planet, Humboldt's Gift, The Dean's December (2010)
• Novels 1984–2000: What Kind of Day Did You Have?, More Die of Heartbreak, A Theft, The Bellarosa Connection, The Actual, Ravelstein (2014)

Translations

• "Gimpel the Fool"' (1945), a short story by Isaac Bashevis Singer, translated by Bellow in 1953.

Non-fiction

• To Jerusalem and Back (1976), a memoir.
• It All Adds Up (1994), an essay collection.
• Saul Bellow: Letters, a collection of correspondence edited by Benjamin Taylor (2010).
• This is a collection of shorter non-fiction pieces published by Viking in 2015, titled There Is Simply Too Much To Think About.

A list of Jewish Nobel laureates.

• List of Jewish Nobel laureates
• The PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction.
• A list of the oldest fathers.

References.

Bellow, Greg. Saul Bellow's Heart: A Son's Memoir. 2013. ISBN 978-1608199952.

• Saul Bellow's Heart: A Son's Memoir, Greg Bellow, 2013 ISBN 978-1608199952
• Tanner, Tony. Saul Bellow. 1965. (Also refer to his work City of Words from 1971.)
• Bradbury, Malcolm. Saul Bellow. 1982.
• Harris, Mark. Saul Bellow Drumlin Woodchuck. University of Georgia Press, 1982.
• Bloom, Harold (Ed.). Saul Bellow: Modern Critical Views. 1986.
• Wasserman, Harriet. Handsome Is: Adventures with Saul Bellow. 1997.
• Glenday, Michael K. Saul Bellow and the Decline of Humanism. 1990.
• Miller, Ruth. Saul Bellow: A Biography of the Imagination. St. Martin's Press, 1991.
• Atlas, James. Bellow: A Biography. 2000.
• Quayum, M.A. Saul Bellow and American Transcendentalism. 2004.
• In Martin Amis's 2001 work, The War Against Cliché, the essays "Even Later" and "The American Eagle" offer celebratory perspectives. The latter essay is additionally included in the Everyman's Library edition of Augie March.
• Wood, James. "Saul Bellow's Comic Style." In The Irresponsible Self: On Laughter and the Novel. 2004. ISBN 0-224-06450-9.
• Halldorson, Stephanie. The Hero in Contemporary American Fiction: The Works of Saul Bellow and Don DeLillo. 2007.
• Sufjan Stevens composed a song titled "Saul Bellow" for his album The Avalanche, which comprises outtakes and other recordings from his concept album Illinois.
• Leader, Zachary. The Life of Saul Bellow: To Fame and Fortune, 1915–1964. 2015. And The Life of Saul Bellow: Love and Strife, 1965–2005. 2018.

A compilation of works by Saul Bellow is available at Open Library.

• Works by Saul Bellow at Open Library
• Information regarding Saul Bellow is accessible via Nobelprize.org.
• Details concerning Saul Bellow can be found on Find a Grave.
• A comprehensive guide to the Saul Bellow Papers, spanning 1926–2015, is housed at the University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center.