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Book Review: "Ravelstein" by Saul Bellow

4/5 - Saul Bellow's final novel...

By Annie KapurPublished 2 years ago 3 min read
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For all of you who know me, you will know how difficult I have always found it to really sink my teeth into the works of Saul Bellow. I once re-read The Adventures of Augie March in the act of trying to prove to myself that I was simply in a really foul mood when I read it the first time. In fact, I was not - I simply did not think too much of the novel. And that, I had to learn, was okay. Not everyone will like what snobby academics call the 'great novels' and that is perfectly fine. As for Saul Bellow's other works, I have found some liking in the collected nonfiction writings such as It All Adds Up and some of his books such as: Dangling Man and The Victim. Often people regard Saul Bellow as one of the great writers of the 20th century, I have to say that I beg to differ, but it is simply based on opinion. If you do in fact, enjoy Saul Bellow's books, then do not let me take that away from you.

Ravelstein was Saul Bellow's final novel, published in 2000, it is based on the life of his friend Allan Bloom and his exploits, political philosophies and homosexuality. The book centres around the main character (Allan Bloom being named 'Ravelstein') dying and trying to tell his long-time lover, Nikki, that he should write a memoir about him after he is gone. After Ravelstein dies, Nikki travels for a while and contracts an illness and upone returning home, he attempts to sit down and write the memoir of his lost long-time love.

I find that this is a lot more sentimental than a lot of Saul Bellow's other books. I am sure for a fact that there is no sentimentality of this degree in his better, earlier works such as Dangling Man. But, the sentimentality in Ravelstein is not misplaced, instead it is used as a constant reminder, a play on the mind and a realisation - sort of adding to the structure of the novel. Though at times I thought it was a bit unlike Bellow, it seemed to serve its purpose perfectly well.

The character of Ravelstein reminds me of other Saul Bellow characters as well. Ravelstein is a talker, he is a gossiper, he is the receiver and interpreter of information great and wide. He is a conversationalist and he is, even in physical decline, an interesting human being worthy of a memoir. The way in which we see Ravelstein interact with his students is often a man of paradoxes and humour - he talks about everything from love to cigarettes and often gives students life advice that they take on board. He is a colourful character to say the least and this does not seem to shake as his physical health declines and he is admitted to hospital.

There is a serious difference I see between the narrator (called the nickname 'Chick' only), and the character of Ravelstein. The narrator seems to be less hands-on and more appreciative, as if whilst still alive, Ravelstein is something to be missed. There is a revelation upon Ravelstein's death, I feel, by the narrator, that these things must be written down and when Nikki finally gets to it, there is a weird sense of the story not really being over. Though it is often difficult to reason with, I think that this is certainly a point for discussion and debate amongst the literary critics who view this really as a memoir about Allan Bloom.

All in all, it is not my favourite Saul Bellow novel and yet, it is deep with everything falling into its proper place and having a proper purpose. Each character contributes something almost philosophical - from Hegelian philosophy all the way to chaos theory.

literature
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About the Creator

Annie Kapur

190K+ Reads on Vocal.

English Lecturer

🎓Literature & Writing (B.A)

🎓Film & Writing (M.A)

🎓Secondary English Education (PgDipEd)

📍Birmingham, UK

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