Customer Reviews

Collected Stories

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I am stunned that no one else has commented on this selection of short stories by The Nobel Laureate Saul Bellow. It may be that readers are more accustomed to his novels, but to miss these 13 stories and an Afterword by the author is to miss great literature. The writer's comments at the end are deserving of being counted as a separate piece of non-fiction within this collection.

While all will chose their own favorites from this collection, it will likely be based on the personal impact a given story has, and not the caliber of the writing itself. The author provides portraits of people and slices of their lives that are uniformly excellent. While it is true that most of the book's contents takes place in Chicago he also steps well beyond the Loop and the State of Illinois to render some of the most interesting of his characters. You will meet Hattie Waggoner in, "Leaving The Yellow House". This tale set in a remote Texas town reminded me of similar moods that John Steinbeck once created. "Him With His Foot In His Mouth", begins as an apology for an off-hand remark made decades ago. The protagonist has been driven to write to the target of his quip after being reminded of it by a one-time friend. What begins, as a simple apology becomes a massive, cathartic and rambling epistle that invokes every emotion and so many flaws that are human.

Mr. Bellow also produces players that are philosophers, men and women of letters, con artists, opportunists, and portraits of family that range from the humorous to incredibly tragic. It is to some degree a fault to say this is the first time I have read this man's work. It is wonderful as well for there is a large body of his work that is waiting to be explored.

His personal comments in the Afterword will likely resonate with all who enjoy excellent writing, and agree that the quantity of books that is offered today bears no relation to the quality. He also shares his thoughts on what it is that great writing competes with for reader's attention, and these comments are as accurate as they are sad. This collection of short, and not so short stories will meet or exceed any collection of similar work you may find.

I am fourteen years old and have been reading avidly since I was ten. I go to the bookstore everyday and I came across this Collection of Stories on the Staff Recommendation shelf.I had no clue who Saul Bellow was, but the cover looked very intriguing, due to my infatuation with oldies cars and Black and White photography. So I had the book held and the next day I came back with my allowance and bought it.On my way home, I had a haircut. Two people in the barbershop said something vague about the author. I didn't take too much notice. When I finally arrived home, I showed my parents the book, and the applauded, explaining that all on my own I had picked out one of the best American authors this century has known. That night I went to bed early and sped through the first two stories; 'By the St. Lawrence' and 'A Silver Dish'. They were both some of the best mixtures of the English language that I have ever read.
I am a writer and so I am very serious when I say that this book is one of the best examples of written art ever painted. If I could, I would give it six-stars!

There is one story in this collection 'The Old System' which is one of the best stories I have ever read. I love it in part because it captures the spirit and feeling of two worlds I know well, one is the upstate New York Troy- Albany area world, the other is the world of Jewish religious Yiddish speaking immigrants to America. But I think even more than this what I find in this story is a story of family love and hate, of passion and intensity in human relationships. The story is fundamentally of the relationship between a brother and sister who ostensibly become estranged over a family inheritance, a ring. The brother a master maneuver and real estate mogul has risen from poor origins to wealth, and a world and a level beyond that of his resentful sister. She cuts him off. But in a dramatic reconciliation scene at the close of the story there is an incredible depth of tenderness and resignation and wisdom.
My abstract words are a poor summary of this remarkable story. It carries such a weight of meaning in it, said and unsaid, that I cannot possibly describe it.
In my judgment it is a very great story, one of the greatest.

Critics have often named Saul Bellow and Faulkner in the same laudatory, esteeming sentence. This juxtaposition is most correct in its comparison of the respective artistry of their short story craft. Bellow is a superior novelist and writer.

This is a superb collection of short stories. The Preface is finely and charmingly written by Janis Bellow, which allows us a brief, intimate glimpse of Bellow the writer.

This anthology includes: "The Bellarosa Connection," "Looking for Mr. Green," "Zetland," "Mosby's Memoirs," and "Something to Remember Me By," among others.

Long live the urban Jewish intelligentsia. I also highly recommend Bellow's novels, esp. Augie March, Humboldt's Gift, and Ravelstein.

Those who have enjoyed Saul Bellow's great novels over the years will rejoice at this excellent collection of his finest short stories. Spanning decades, they resonate with much joy and understanding of the human condition, vividly portrayed by Bellow's graceful, erudite prose. Most of the tales are set in Chicago, describing the lives of an intriguing assortment of Midwestern characters, ranging from con men to businessmen. It's hard for me to choose one story as a personal favorite, though the last tale, "Something To Remember Me By", is a hilarious look at Prohibition Era Chicago, replete with speakeasies and references to mobster Al Capone. Without question, Saul Bellow remains one of North America's greatest literary treasures. After reading "Mr. Sammler's Planet", "Seize the Day", "Herzog", "Henderson the Rain King", or the rest of his great literary works, you'll surely want to read "Saul Bellow: Collected Stories".

Saul Bellow selected the stories in this anthology which span the era of the late 1940s to mid-1950s. It includes a broad range of people, places, and topics. Each story is a richly textured, deep memory file of detail, depth, and description making every sentence and paragraph a work of artistic merit. Saul Bellow shares his Chicago roots and delving further, his ancestral Russian Jewish heritage. Other settings for his stories are New York, New Jersey, and New England. He uses densely packed carefully chosen, correct words to paint a colorful reality with many shades and hues ... He can pinpoint the important life issues of his characters describing their personality and behavior to maximum effect. His use of time is highly effective, the main character could be an adult, whose memories of specific events and people which had an impact on his life are woven throughout a story. The memory could be an everyday occurence but it takes on meaning and value because as life unfolds and one ages ... the mind naturally connects emotions with one's personal history.

This Nobel Prize for Literature winning author provides winding caverns of reality which the reader enters ... to explore the unforgettable life experiences of characters whose philosophical, ethical, and moral outlooks are described.

Here is a small sample of the above,
from "Cousins": "Disorder if it does not murder you brings certain opportunities. You wouldn't guess that when I sit in my Holy Sepulchre apartment at night (the surroundings that puzzled Eunice's mind when she came to visit: 'All these Oriental rugs and lamps, and so many books,' she said), wouldn't guess that I am concentrating on strategies for pouncing passionately on the freedom made possible by dissolution. Hundreds of books, but only half a shelf of those that matter. You don't get more goodness from more knowledge ..." [p. 234] In this story, Bellow discusses the relationship between love and hate with some startling but very accurate conclusions.

There is a kind of nostalgia and sentiment for the past in his stories where memories, places, and people are thoroughly examined and explored, few authors can match this writing style and achieve the same results. These memories about the past take on a kind of sacredness. Saul Bellow examines sentiments and feelings to create a dynamic story by unraveling the complex emotions associated with past relationships. Each thread in every story is woven neatly, tightly, and with consideration for all the senses, sight, sound, touch and taste. Indeed, all the stories are so enormously rich and dense, each is a book unto itself.
Erika Borsos (erikab93)

Most of these stories are vintage Bellow continuing his themes, particularly difficult relatives or just plain screwing up with family. Poignant and funny and plenty of what lies in between.

It would be superfluous to add anything to Mr. Wood's introductory essay. The story "The Bellarosa Connection", for my part, is worth the price of the book.

Am I the only Earthling who hates Bellow more than life itself? Somehow I doubt it. Bellow's so profoundly shallow he makes Jacqueline Susann look like a paragon of psychological depth. Contrary to Martin Amis's claim, Saul happens to be a soulless wonder.

I discovered Bellow by way of Woody Allen (himself a master boremonger). Woody wrote a story called NO KADDISH FOR WEINSTEIN, which I later found out was a parody of Bellow. NO KADDISH was pure cartoon comedy, so I made the assumption that Bellow himself had actual depth & resonance. Boy was I wrong. Most of Bellow's stuff is as cartoonish as Woody's stuff. And it might bore you to know that both Saul & Woody are terminally addicted to the exact sort of self-congratulatory lit-chat name-dropping that infects Martin Amis's stuff.

The obvious question is why COLLECTED STORIES contains an introduction by James Wood instead of one by Amis. And I think I know the answer: pure laziness on Amis's part. Amis probably didn't have enough time to make the publishing deadline. (He was too busy coining deathless phrases like "a navel traumatized by bijouterie".)

But the bigger question is: what in the name of Crap does James Wood see in Bellow? Because I sure as heck can't see it. Wood keeps gushing about Bellow's descriptive verbiage and metaphor-coinage to the point where Wood sounds just like Amis. My guess is that Wood is intrigued by Bellow's vague Platonic religioso palavering. (This Platonism is also present in RAVELSTEIN.)

I'm not *entirely* ill-disposed toward Saul. I admire him for breaking Amis's heart by damning NIGHT TRAIN with faint praise. Plus ya gotta admire Saul for butching it out and outliving Bob Hope. I genuinely did Saul's taste in snap-brim hats. He's commendable for a multitude of reasons. Unfortunately, the manufacture of Fine Quality Entertainment isn't one of them.