Humboldt's Gift

Bellow at his best … funny, vibrant, ironic, self-mocking and wise * San Francisco Examiner *
There was something about Humboldt’s Gift - the sheer ecstatic pleasure of the writing, the intensity of the imagery, the entrancing ability to combine high comedy with deeply serious intellectual ideas, the astonishing talent for describing faces, the warm affection for Chicago characters - which excited me almost beyond endurance – Justin Cartwright * New Statesman *
It has always been on the cards that Saul Bellow would write The Great American Novel. With Humboldt’s Gift, I think that he has achieved this. – David Holloway * Telegraph *

Saul Bellow was born in 1915 to Russian emigre parents. He published his first novel, The Dangling Man, in 1944; this was followed, in 1947, by The Victim. In 1948 a Guggenheim Fellowship enabled Bellow to travel to Paris, where he wrote The Adventures of Augie March, published in 1953. Henderson The Rain King (1959) brought Bellow worldwide fame, and in 1964, his best-known novel, Herzog, was published and immediately lauded as a masterpiece.

Saul Bellow’s dazzling career as a novelist was celebrated during his lifetime with an unprecedented array of literary prizes and awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, three National Book Awards, and the Gold Medal for the Novel. In 1976 he was awarded a Nobel Prize ‘for the human understanding and subtle analysis of contemporary culture that are combined in his work’.

Bellow’s death in 2005 was met with tribute from writers and critics around the world, including James Wood, who praised ‘the beauty of this writing, its music, its high lyricism, its firm but luxurious pleasure in language itself’.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.