Towards the end of his life, Bellow frequently commented on the decline of culture in the West and the urban environment's failure to meet the demands of the soul. In 1987, Bellow composed the foreword to the controversial book The Closing of the American Mind, written by the University of Chicago's conservative social philosopher Alan Bloom. Bellow's final novel, Ravelstein, is an homage to the man and their friendship.
In 1989, Bellow married Janis Freedman. The couple moved to Boston, where their daughter, Naomi, was born in 1999. Bellow died in his home on April 5, 2005.
2. About Herzog
Herzog is often called autobiographical, a claim not wanting in evidence. Bellow wrote the book in multiple locations, namely Puerto Rico, New York, and Chicago, while in the throes of a marital crisis. The crisis was rooted, to Bellow's shock, in the disloyalty of his closest friend, Jack Ludwig, who was found having an affair with Bellow's second wife, Sondra. Therefore Bellow's second marriage may very well have unraveled in a similar fashion to his protagonist's. Herzog's plight throughout the book reflects the difficulties endured by the author; at the end, having rediscovered a sense of security in himself, Herzog's need for catharsis through his letter-writing evaporates much as Bellow's need to write Herzog seems to ebb. In this way Bellow's affinity with his hero is transparent.
Their personal histories bear many telling similarities. Bellow was born in Quebec and, like Herzog, he was raised in Montreal and spent a considerable amount of time in Chicago. Both were raised Jewish, and the three languages featured in Herzog - French, English, and Yiddish - reflect Bellow's own trilingual heritage. Herzog's identity crisis stems in part from this heterogeneity of cultures; this surely reflects a similar dilemma in Bellow. In this sense Herzog and Bellow undergo similar ordeals, both in the immediate and the perpetual sense.
Herzog has been the object of critical and popular acclaim since it was published in 1964. It is said to represent one of the major reasons Bellow won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1976.
3. The themes
Death: Death is a concept with which Herzog struggles throughout the entire novel. He feels governed by death; bliss is, for Herzog, spoiled by its impermanence. He is haunted by the death of his mother, still feeling the need for a caretaker. This death overshadows the novel, and by processing it Moses overcomes a major mental hurdle. When the novel opens we find Moses in a chronological void; he is discontent with his present, terrified of his future, and haunted by his past. Throughout the book Moses learns to cope with death and exist with the awareness of it while facing and enjoying his present. Death represents for Moses a time of absolute truth, and by facing it he puts to bed the old horrors of his life and starts afresh.
Sex:
Herzog, in addition to his two marriages, enjoys many casual affairs. The most prominent of his mistresses is Ramona, to whom he turns for spiritual comfort. He believes her to be a completely sexual being and takes joy in the lack of responsibility their relationship demands him to shoulder. For this reason he finds it unbearable when she tries to impose upon him her opinions of his personal life. He writes in his letter to her that she has "the complete wisdom. Perhaps to excess" and worries about his vulnerability to her charms. He calls her a "sexual priestess" and flees New York to escape her potency. In this way Ramona's first encounter with Herzog reflects his depressed paranoia, and their subsequent meetings document his softening.
Ramona is almost a theme unto herself in this sense, but the mention of and resulting comparison to Herzog's other mistresses illustrates Herzog's desire to trivialize their relationship. This in turn represents Herzog's traumatic state and phobia of intimacy. His first affair, with Sono Oguki, takes place during his separation from Daisy. At the time Herzog is grappling with guilt for the failure of his and Daisy's marriage - a failure based in reality upon their simple incompatibility. He is in a bad state, drinking heavily and regularly using sleeping pills. During this period he becomes infatuated with Madeleine.
It seems that Madeleine represented for Herzog a way out of his failures. He did not anticipate having to cope with her demanding nature or fanaticism. He continued to enjoy extramarital sex during their marriage. Casual sex is a safe haven for Moses; it is a turning point when in Martha's Vineyard he experiences guilt at the notion of taking advantage of Libbie's kindness. In refusing himself the escape of an affair, Moses take a step forward. The intensification of his affair with Ramona similarly signifies his healing.
Family: Herzog is idealistic, living very much in his own head. He feels bombarded by phantom responsibilities and compelled to assume an identity. We learn through his reminiscences that he was educated, that his father was an ineffectual man who failed at almost everything he attempted. He weakly protested when scolded, as often he was by Moses' Aunt Zipporah, a most imposing and powerful woman. Moses' father is referred to as Jonah, while his mother is simply known as Mama or Mother Herzog. She seems to be more of a figure than a person to Moses, all the way until her death when Moses was aged sixteen. A flashback in the book recalls this: "She only pitied me, her orphan, understood I was a gesture-maker, ambitious, a fool; thought I would need my eyesight and my strength on a certain day of reckoning. A few days afterward, when she had lost the power to speak, she was still trying to comfort Moses." His mother's selflessness explains Moses' lack of consideration for his wives and lovers. Identifying with his father, he views regular women as caretakers and views powerful women, like Zipporah, as dangerous bullies. His family history explains his commitment to his work and his preference for casual affairs, as well as the resentment he bears toward Madeleine for the failure of their marriage. Furthermore, while we meet one brother and learn a considerable amount about the other, very little is said of his sister.
Social Role:
Herzog is torn, throughout the novel, between varying social roles he feels compelled to fulfill. Determined to succeed as an academic, he plunges himself into his work in the house in Ludeyville, abandoning Madeleine to her own isolation. Unaware of his own selfishness, he resents Madeleine for the care he takes of her. In a conversation Moses recalls having with Valentine Gersbach, he complains: "...I spend about twenty grand in a year. Everything I inherited." His complaints win little sympathy from Valentine, who is conducting an affair with Madeleine at that point in time and understands her emotional void. "She wants you to admit her importance...You're effing it up with all this egotistical shit," Valentine tells Moses. "It's a big deal - such a valuable person dying for love."
Herein lies the root of Moses' problems. Made egomaniacal from a low and vague sense of self worth, he struggles throughout the novel to fulfill multiple social roles and live up to his own standards. This leads to him committing so heavily to contrasting causes that he is wracked by an identity crisis, a rising schizophrenia which drives him deeper and deeper into lunacy.
Identity: As touched upon above, Moses undergoes a severe identity crisis which flavors his thoughts. As his self-confidence rots, he turns to face after face in search of retribution. When faced with an overwhelming concern for his mental stability, he demonizes those around him, attempting to justify his actions by victimizing himself. He refers to Madeleine as "masterful," assures himself that she had been psychopathic from the start and does everything in his power to assure himself he has not driven her mad. Feeling his actions are constantly questioned, he grows defensive, and expresses disdain for all who attempt to challenge his actions. By clinging to his deranged logic, he is constantly lying to himself, burying his identity. The turning point for this crisis happens late in the book, when Herzog flashes back to the memory of his rape. It is clear that he has hidden this from himself for years. Only after he discovers the details of his true victimization does he cease his wallowing and reassert himself as a man. For much of the novel, however, Herzog completely avoids his identity.
Letters: The letters that punctuate Herzog are not only therapeutic for their writer; they represent the trauma he is enduring and the way in which he distances himself from the world. Unable to face direct confrontation, Moses voices his frustrations in the most remote manner of communication, a mode that allows him total control over his message. The fact that he does not send them signifies his lack of trust in his own convictions, propelling his search for true validation. It is Herzog's constant questioning of himself that heals him, explaining why he resents the opinions of others. Finding himself powerless to stop writing letters, Moses experiences an important catharsis, and when he finally finds peace at the end of the novel, his urge to write them disappears. Throughout the novel the letters serve to illustrate for us the life of Moses as he sees it, and thereby walk us through his conflict and his resolution.
Nature: Nature seems to represent for Herzog the madness for which he lusts. The novel opens depicting him in harmony with nature, having reached some degree of peace. We see this again as he stands on the dock waiting for the ferry, embracing with longing the sun and the sky and the sea. In his flashback to the scene with Shapiro, Moses talks about looking beyond the table at the afternoon, admitting he had "seldom heard anything so beautiful as this massed continual harshness." "Harsh" is a word Moses uses repeatedly to describe nature, implying that a part of him longs to confront his demons directly and exorcise them. The avoidant in Herzog, however, fears the harshness and causes him to huddle deep in excuses, laying the blame for his own mistakes on others: "But I am a prisoner of perception...I dwell in yon house of dull boards."
Madness: Herzog describes Madeleine to the reader as maniacal and paranoid, attributing the unhappiness that drove her into Valentine's arms to a mental dysfunction of which he is blameless. He seems truly shocked by her outbursts, assuming that they must have nothing to do with him. The unanimous conviction of the characters he encounters, however, is that Herzog himself is unstable. As the reader is constantly immersed in Moses' perspective, this claim is never made by the narrator. Herzog can, however, be safely termed a first-hand document of the protagonist's battle with madness and the beginning of his healing.
4. Character list
Moses E. Herzog: The protagonist and namesake of the novel, whose name Bellow borrowed from a minor character in James Joyce's Ulysses. Herzog is a womanizing, self-loathing, idealistic, and scholarly man in his mid-forties, enduring a difficult second divorce and a resulting depression. The story is told from inside of Moses' head; one might say the book is not so much about Herzog as it is Herzog.
Daisy: Moses' first wife, Jewish and traditional. We come to understand that her fastidious and conservative nature was incompatible with Moses' chaotic personality; thus the marriage fell apart. Mother of Marco.
Madeleine: Moses' insane second wife, maniacally protective of her autonomy. Traumatized by her weak mother and abusive father, she demands more of Moses than he can give and subsequently ends the marriage. Mother of June.
Valentine Gersbach: Moses' best friend and only neighbor in Ludeyville. Crippled yet dashing, Valentine inspires Moses' resentment for his sociability. Has affair with Madeline and proves a better match for her than Moses.
Phoebe: Valentine's nurse-like and oblivious wife. Defends Valentine against Moses' accusations to the last.
Ramona: The most important of all Moses' mistresses. Argentinian, beautiful and sexual, Ramona offers Moses oasis from his traumatic state.
June: Moses' daughter, loves Moses and Valentine simultaneously. Gives Moses reason to reclaim his identity as a father.
Marco: Moses' son, distant from his father and away at camp throughout the book. Moses feels that Marco blames him for his divorces.
Jonah Herzog: Moses' father, bootlegger, failed at many things he attempted but appears to have worked hard. Threatened Moses with a gun toward the time of his death. Scolded by Aunt Zipporah.
Mother Herzog: Jewish mother, takes good care of her family and insists that they be educated.
Taube: Jonah's second wife, outlives Jonah in his old house, the "survivor." Slow and deliberate, contrasts with the rest of Moses' family.
Shura: Moses' wealthy, realist brother, affluent businessman. Financially generous. Moses believes Shura "despises everyone."
Will: Moses' other brother, also financially generous. Bails Moses out of jail at the end and worries for his sanity.
Helen: Moses' sister, never appears but is said to also worry for his sanity.
Zipporah: Jonah's sister, powerful, "militant," rough on Jonah.
Nachman: Moses' childhood friend, with whom he stayed in Paris.
Lucas Asphalter: Moses' childhood friend; tells Moses about Madeleine's affair with Valentine.
Dr. Edvig: Moses' psychiatrist who questions Moses' sanity. In self defense Moses accuses him of having a crush on Madeleine and siding with her. Considered Moses' enemy throughout the novel.
Sandor Himmelstein: Moses' ex-divorce lawyer who gives ave Moses a place to stay after the divorce and grows furious with Moses' self pity. Direct and passionate; comforts Moses but also confronts him. Moses believes him to also side with Madeleine.
Simpkin: Moses' divorce lawyer through whom Moses intends to negotiate for custody of June. According to Moses, a "Reality Instructor."
5.. Sumary
Bellow's novel tells the story of Moses Elkanah Herzog, a scholar of Jewish heritage who is losing faith in himself. The novel opens shortly after his divorce from his second wife, , who has taken up with his closest friend, . Moses grows paranoid and is convinced that various figures in his life - his doctor, his lawyer, his therapist, and his aunt - conspired in the destruction of his marriage. He begins writing letters to friends, acquaintances, public figures and philosophers, none of which he sends, in a quest to make sense of his situation.
He spends the first half of the book in transit, first isolating himself in the country home he had bought for Madeleine, before fleeing to New York. There he meets up with his longtime lover, , but upon finding himself alarmingly susceptible to her charms, departs for Martha's Vineyard with a view of pursuing a less weighted affair in the sympathetic arms of Libbie, a recently married friend. As his ferry nears the port, Moses is overcome with guilt for taking advantage of Libbie's sympathy. He leaves after a short visit and returns to his bed in New York, discovering a letter from the babysitter of his and Madeleine's daughter, . The letter tells of Valentine locking and abandoning tearful June in the car during a fight with Madeleine. Moses is outraged; the first hints of fatherly responsibility are revived in him.
The following morning, Moses writes more letters, bearing witness to Madeleine's abusive childhood and subsequently maniacal nature. We learn about Moses' cool, organized first wife, , and a little about his childhood in Montreal. Through writing letters, Moses seems to be rediscovering different parts of himself. He meets Ramona for dinner that night and finds himself overflowing with talk of his problems. Ramona eventually soothes him with sex, though Moses can never shut off his philosophizing brain.
After bidding Ramona goodbye the next morning, Moses elects to take charge of his fatherhood and fight for custody of June, determined to protect her from the seemingly abusive Valentine. He also resolves to reconnect with , his son from his first marriage, after a long period of estrangement. He convinces his divorce lawyer, Simkin, to meet with him at the courthouse to discuss Junie's custody. Like almost everyone else in his life, Simkin alludes to Moses' mental instability. Eventually, however, he agrees. While waiting for Simkin at the courthouse, Moses is disturbed by a number of trials he witnesses, particularly one involving a mother accused of murdering her child. He experiences a painful flashback he has swallowed since his youth - of being raped on the street.
Alive with even more familial emotion, Moses travels to Chicago to visit the house of his ex-wife, Madeleine. On the way, he visits his father's old house and his widow, , with whom he reminisces about his youth. Moses takes his father's old pistol, with which he himself was once threatened. He has a mind to kill Madeleine and Gersbach. He finds himself unable, however, to go through with it, having witnessed through the windows of Madeleine's home what a tender, gentle, loving stepfather Valentine is. He realizes that his father never meant to shoot him either and only meant to threaten him. He regains some faith in humanity.
He stays with a friend, Asphalter, to whom he addressed a letter earlier in the book and who was his informant on Madeleine's affair. Asphalter is in bereavement for his late monkey, whom he cherished. He describes for Moses the therapeutic effect of simulating one's own death and admitting to oneself the whole truth of what one feels for others. This warms Moses' heart. Asphalter arranges for Moses a meeting with his daughter to take place the next day.
Moses and June are enjoying a delightful outing when they suddenly get into a car crash. The police find Moses' unlicensed pistol and take him in for questioning. Madeleine comes by to pick up June and intimates Moses' dangerous insanity. Moses frightens her away. He is placed in jail until his brother, , comes to bail him out, whereupon he moves back out to the country house in Ludeyville. Here he writes and sends a few letters; for the first time in the novel, his voice is joyful. He resists his sibling's concerned urges for hospitalization, and instead sets about fixing up the house. He reunites with Ramona, and the novel ends as he is preparing dinner for her. He finally feels at this moment that he no longer needs to write. He is cured.