National Book Award Winner
Herzog
by Saul Bellow
Summary
Reeling from the breakup of his second marriage, the academic Moses Herzog retreats to a crumbling country house and pours his crisis into letters - to ex-wives, dead philosophers, politicians, God - that he writes but never sends. Bellow turns the comic-intellectual breakdown into a vehicle for ranging meditation on modernity, freedom, and the life of the mind. The novel became a surprise bestseller and is often called his masterpiece.
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Historical Context & Significance
The novel spent 42 weeks on the bestseller list, proving that 'intellectual' fiction about a professor could be a massive commercial hit.