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Book Review By Joan Teague
Herzog by Saul Bellow

    Moses Harzog is a middle-aged professor who has at least one scholarly book to his credit but is bogged down in trying to write another one. He has been through two failed marriages and fathered two children. He agonizes over his condition with good reason because mentally he is falling apart.
    He writes countless letters, some on paper, some in his mind, most of which he never sends. He has dialogues with dead philosophers telling them the points on which he disagrees.
    His ethnic Jewish identity is totally ingrained. He has deep love for his deceased mother and a love-hate relationship with his deceased father while recognizing how much of his father is in him.
    He seems to get his only relief in sexual encounters with a variety of women, some of whom are trying to lead him to a third marriage. He loves his children but is mostly an absentee father.
He is a brilliant but pathetic character.


Plot & Themes
Tone of book? - thoughtful
Time/era of story - 1960's-1970's
Internal struggle/realization? Yes
Struggle over
Brain/Body disability? - mental illness

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status:
Age: - 40's-50's
Ethnicity/Nationality

Main Adversary
Identity: - Female
Age: - 40's-50's
How sensitive is this character?
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 8 ()
United States Yes
City? Yes
Small town? Yes
Small town people: - nice, like Andy/Opie/Aunt Bee
Misc setting

Writing Style
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - actual description of hetero sex
Amount of dialog - significantly more descript than dialog
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