What Henry James did for the geographically disoriented, Bellow does for the culturally traumatized in the six stories gathered in this collection. Truly, Bellow is one of God s spies. "Los Angeles Times"
In six darkly comic tales, Saul Bellow presents the human experience in all its preposterousness, poignancy, and pathos. In the title story, a professor well-known for his wit struggles to animate his memoirs as he teeters on the brink of despair; in the old System, a distinguished biochemist tries to find room in his life for love; and in A Father to Be, a man is startled to find himself seated next to his future adult son on a New York subway. The other stories, too, reflect Bellow s special ability to depict men and women confronting, in highly idiosyncratic ways, the enigmas and oddities of existence.
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