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| The Adventures of Augie March | |
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| Author | Saul Bellow |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Picaresque novel |
| Publisher | Viking Press |
| Publication date | 1953 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| Pages | 536 pp |
| ISBN | NA |
The Adventures of Augie March (1953) is a novel by Saul Bellow. It centers on the eponymous character who grows up during the Great Depression. This picaresque novel is an example of bildungsroman, tracing the development of an individual through a series of encounters, occupations and relationships from boyhood to manhood.
Contents |
The Novel
Although the picaresque style is among the earliest forms of the novel, Bellow's concerns are fundamentally modern. With an intricate plot and allusive style, he explores contrasting themes of alienation and belonging, poverty and wealth, love and loss.
Its protagonist may be said to represent the modern Everyman – an individual struggling to make sense of, and succeed in, an alienating world. The novel is also specific to the American literary canon in that it celebrates the capacity of the individual to progress in society by virtue of nothing more than his own "luck and pluck". This idea is stated explicitly in the opening and most famous lines of the novel, in which the narrator defines himself as an American. This was an important act of self-definition for the author and narrator, both immigrants to America. It also establishes the dual meaning of "America" in the novel: that is, the physical and political "America", as well as the more figurative "American" as a state-of-mind:
| “ | I am an American, Chicago born – Chicago, that somber city – and go at things as I have taught myself, free-style, and will make the record in my own way: first to knock, first admitted; sometimes an innocent knock, sometimes a not so innocent. But a man's character is his fate, says Heraclitus, and in the end there isn't any way to disguise the nature of the knocks by acoustical work on the door or gloving the knuckles.[1] | ” |
This celebration of the individual determines Bellow's presentation of fate in the novel. Unlike other picaresque novels, such as Henry Fielding's Tom Jones, the plot of Augie March is never pre-determined. Things simply happen to Augie, one after another, with no evident story arc or hint as to where his adventures are leading. This contributes to the sense that Augie, as the Everyman, is lost in a chaotic world, but it also enhances the sense that the Everyman, as an autonomous creation, is in control of his own fate. By turns, Bellow exposes the alienating forces of the American city, while revealing the great opportunities that it offers.
Summary of plot
The story describes Augie March's growth from childhood to a fairly stable maturity. Augie, with his brother Simon and the mentally abnormal George have no father and are brought up by their mother who is losing her eyesight, and a tyrannical grandmother in very humble circumstances in the rough parts of Chicago. Augie drifts from one situation to another in a free-wheeling manner - jobs, women, homes, education and lifestyle.
In lifestyle he ranges from near adoption by a wealthy couple who spoil him, to a struggle for existence stealing books and helping out friends in desperate straits. His most unusual adventure is his flight to Mexico with the wild and irrepressible Thea who tries to catch lizards with an eagle.
His jobs include general assistance to the slightly corrupt Einhorn, helping in a dog training parlour, working for his brother at a coal-tip, working for with a Union - when he nearly gets beaten up - until finally he joins the merchant navy in the war.
With women, from casual acquaintances as a youth he gets engaged to a wealthy cousin of his brother's wife. However through a scandal not of his fault, he is discarded. After a casual affair with the Greek hotel maid he is swept off by Thea whom he had met when living with the rich Renlings and who forecast their relationship even though he loved her sister. After the fiasco in Mexico where he put up with the disasters of lizard hunting and snake hunting, suffered a terrible accident on the horse, whiled away his time playing cards while Thea drifted apart, and finally met Stella, he returned to Chicago where subsequently he met up with Stella again and married her.
All through the book, Augie is encouraged into education, but never quite seems to make it; he reads a great deal for himself and develops quite a philosophy of life. During the war, his ship is sunk and he suffers a difficult episode alone in a lifeboat with what turns out to be a lunatic. After rescue he returns to Stella and the book ends with them living a slightly dubious existence in France, he involved in some fairly shady business deals and she attempting to pursue a career in acting.
Literary significance and criticism
Widely heralded as a classic of American literature, the novel has been included in Time Magazine's 100 best novels,[2][3] and is also number 81 on the Modern Library's list of the best 20th-century novels.[4]
As a novel "centering on the quest for identity," it has been compared to novels as diverse as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Moby Dick, and The Catcher in the Rye.[5]
Trivia
- The Australian band Augie March take their name from the title of this book. They are known for their descriptive, literary lyrical content.
- Singer/songwriter Fionn Regan references this book in his song "Put A Penny In The Slot".
Notes
- ^ Bellow, S., The Adventures of Augie March (London: Penguin Books, 2001), p. 3.
- ^ "The Complete List - Time Magazine - All-Time 100 Novels". Retrieved on 2007-05-14.
- ^ "The Adventures of Augie March (1953) Review". Retrieved on 2007-05-14.
- ^ "The Modern Library - 100 Best Novels". Retrieved on 2007-05-14.
- ^ Chametzsky, Jules. Our Decentralized Literature: Cultural Mediations in Selected Jewish and Southern Writers. Boston: University of Massachusetts Press (1986), p. 82.
External links
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