'Most of what we call life'

 

“A novel is balanced between a few true impressions and the multitude of false ones that make up most of what we call life.” – Saul Bellow

Born in Canada on this date in 1915, Bellow later became a naturalized U.S. citizen after attending the University of Chicago and Northwestern where he earned degrees in sociology and anthropology.  The fact that he was an anthropologist probably is not a surprise for his readers who find anthropological references sprinkled throughout his award-winning books.  

 

Best known for The Adventures of Augie March; Herzog; and Humboldt’s Gift, Bellow earned every major writing award including the Nobel Prize.  He won the National Book Award for Fiction 3 times (the only writer ever to do so); a Lifetime Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters; the National Medal of Arts; and 2 Pulitzer Prizes.

 

"The backbone of 20th-century American literature has been provided by two novelists,” fellow novelist Philip Roth said.  “They are William Faulkner and Saul Bellow. Together they are the Melville, Hawthorne, and Twain of the 20th Century."  Bellow died in 2005. 

 

“You know, you never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write down,” Bellow said.  “Maybe that's why they’re called dreams."