Contemporary American Novel and Drama

Saul Bellow (1915-2005)

Bellow has a fair chance of showing up on the exam. If you know the names associated with a few of his books, you should be fine. An acclaimed Canadian-born American Jewish writer, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1976 and is best known for writing novels that investigate isolation, spiritual dissociation, and the possibilities of human awakening.

"Herzog"

Herzog is a novel set in post-war America. It's a story of a man, a Jew who has had two unsucessful marriages. The entire novel is about the life of the protagonist, how he copes with the tragedies, his unsent letters to his friends, famous people living or dead. The beauty of the novel lies in the dissection of Herzog's mind. In typical Bellow style, the descriptions of emotions, physical features are simply brilliant. Herzog's relationships are the central theme of the novel. It's about relationships with not just women, friends, but also society and with himself. Many believe Herzog is autobiographical. There are many similarities between Herzog and Saul Bellow (Jewish, Chicago residents, failed marriages, etc.) Herzog's Jewishness is very visible. One will possibly be reminded of Philip Roth's novels when reading this. The setting is post-war America and for a traditional Jew this culture is very foreign. This adds subtle humor in the book even though Herzog is going through a tough phase. This book deserves a read and re-read. A thorough understanding of the book makes us think, try to find Herzog's characteristics in our own selves and avoid the mistakes that Herzog commits.

"Seize the Day"

It tells the story of Wilhelm Adler (a.k.a. Tommy Wilhelm), a non-religious jewish New Yorker in his mid 40's who is having a midlife crisis. He is financially irresponsible and leaves his family. His wife says that he is like a youngster; she has great confidence is his earning ability, however. Tommy doesn't receive from his father what he wants most--he needs money to keep him going. The novel is set on Tommy's "day of reckoning", which leaves him a broken and humbled man. He is a familiar American type, the desperate man looking to get rick quickly. He thus falls for a con-artist. Tommy finds his surrogate father in a shady psychologist named Dr. Tamkin. The colorful Dr. Tamkin has put Tommy's money into the commodities market. Tamkin, and the money, disappear when it becomes clear that Tommy's father won't be supplying any fresh money for speculation. The charlatan poses as a psychologist who offers "seize the day" type bromides. Tommy's father, on the other hand, has always been all too prudent, and he seems to live for taunting Tommy about being more responsible.

Tommy has recently had two religious experiences. He had an "onrush of loving kindness" in an early part of the story, but at the end he offers a type of prayer to be delivered from the devil that plagues him. On the final page he is sobbing his heart out in a massive emotional release.

"Henderson the Rain King"

Eugene Henderson is an unhappy millionaire and pig farmer who searches for meaning and purpose in his life. His desperation at home brings him on a pilgrimage to Africa, where he hopes to find a new meaning to his seemingly lacking life. After his first native encounter ends in disaster, he arrives in a new village that soon declares him Rain King. With a new found friendship with the native king, Dahfu, Henderson is brought unwillingly into the king's ritualistic search of a lion thought to be the reincarnation of his predecessor. During this time, Henderson and Dahfu engage in disscussions that help to fill Henderson's spiritual void. Following another disaster and narrow escape, Henderson returns, planning on becoming a doctor.

Henderson the Rain King (1959) follows a similar theme as his previous work, the short story Seize the Day (1956). Both feature men in or approaching middle age who are plagued by acute desperation and lack meaningful social contacts. While the first ends in a breakdown, Henderson the Rain King ends on a particularly upbeat note, at least in Henderson's eyes. The philosophical discussions and ramblings that take place between Henderson and the natives and within himself serve as a precursor to Bellow's next novel, Herzog (1964), which frequently engages in similar inquiries into life and meaning. It was said to be Bellow's own favourite amongst his books.

Carson McCullers (1917-1967)

An American southern gothic writer. The Ballad of the Sad Café (1955) is the story of the chaos wrought on a woman’s life when her cousin Lymon Willis (a dwarf, both deformed and powerfully charismatic) enters her world.

She also wrote The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. Four lonely individuals, marginalized misfits in their families/communities, each obsessed with a vision of his or her place in the world, collect about a single deaf-mute with whom they share their deepest secrets. An adolescent who desires to write symphonies, an itinerant drunk who believes he must organize poor laborers, a black physician whose desire is to motivate his people to demand their rightful place in American society, and a cafe owner whose secret wish is sexually ambiguous, believes that the deaf Mr. Singer understands and validates his or her obsession. Singer, ironically obsessed with a friendship of questionable reciprocity, commits suicide when the friend dies.

* Toni Morrison (1931-)

Toni Morrison is very likely to appear on the exam. For a bio of her life, and more info on other works, check out the wikipedia page on her here.

"Song of Solomon (1977)"

Morrison's third novel, Song of Solomon, brought her national attention. A family chronicle similar to Alex Haley's Roots, the novel follows the life of Macon "Milkman" Dead III, a black man living in Chicago, Illinois, from birth to adulthood.

Morrison's protagonist, Macon "Milkman" Dead III, derives his nickname from the fact that he was breastfed during childhood (Macon's age can be inferred as he was wearing pants with elastic instead of a diaper, and that he later forgets the event, suggesting he was still rather young). Milkman's father's employee, Freddie, happens to see him through the window being breastfed by his mother. He quickly gains a reputation for being a "Momma's boy" in direct contrast to his (future) best friend, Guitar, who is motherless and fatherless.

Milkman has two sisters, " First Corinthians " and " Magdelene called Lena. " The daughters of the family are named by putting a pin in the Bible, while the eldest son is named after his father. The first Macon Dead's name was the result of an administrative error when Milkman's grandfather had to register subsequent to the end of slavery.

Milkman's mother (Ruth Foster Dead) is the daughter of the town's only black doctor; she makes her husband feel inadequate, and it is clear she idolized her father, Doctor Foster, to the point of obsession. After her father dies, her husband claims to have found her in bed with the dead body, sucking his fingers. Ruth later tells Milkman that she was kneeling at her father's bedside kissing the only part of him that remained unaffected by the illness from which he died. These conflicting stories expose the problems between his parents and show Milkman that "truth" is difficult or impossible to obtain. Macon (Jr.) is often violently aggressive towards Ruth because he believes that she was involved sexually with her father and loved her father more than her own husband. On one occasion, Milkman punches his father after he strikes Milkman's mother, exposing the growing rift between father and son.

In contrast, Macon Dead Jr.'s sister, Pilate, is seen as nurturing—an Earth Mother character. Born without a navel, she is a somewhat mystical character. It is strongly implied that she is Divine—a female Christ-in spite of her name. Macon (Jr.) has not spoken to his sister for years and does not think highly of her. She, like Macon, has had to fend for herself from an early age after their father's murder, but she has dealt with her past in a different way than Macon, who has embraced money as the way to show his love for his father. Pilate has a daughter, Reba, and a granddaughter named Hagar. Hagar falls desperately and obsessively in love with Milkman, and is unable to cope with his rejection, attempting to kill him at least six times.

Hagar is not the only character who attempts to kill Milkman. Guitar, Milkman's erstwhile best friend, tries to kill Milkman more than once after incorrectly suspecting that Milkman has cheated him out of hidden gold, a fortune he planned to use to help his Seven Days group fund their revenge killings in response to killings of blacks.

Searching for the gold near the old family farm in Pennsylvania, Milkman stops at the rotting Butler Mansion, former home of the people who killed his ancestor to claim the farm. Here he meets Circe, an almost supernaturally old ex-slave of the Butlers. She tells Milkman of his family history and this leads him to the town of Shalimar. There he learns his great-grandfather Solomon was said to have escaped slavery by flying back to Africa, leaving behind twenty-one children and his wife Ryna, who goes crazy with loss. Returning home, he learns that Hagar has died of a broken heart. He accompanies Pilate back to Shalimar, where she is accidentally shot and killed by Guitar, who had intended to kill Milkman.

The novel ends on a poignant note. In an attempt to confront and reconnect with Guitar, Milkman leaps toward Guitar—and his own death, uttering his hard-won psychological truth: "if you surrendered to the air, you could ride it." Milkman's death brings the novel full circle, from the initial suicide "flight" of insurance agent Robert Smith to the self-sacrificing "flight" by Milkman.

"Beloved (1987)"

Beloved is loosely based on the life and legal case of Margaret Garner, an escaped slave who killed her child to prevent the child from being taken back into slavery. The book's central figure is Sethe, who murdered her two-year-old daughter, Beloved, to save her from a life of slavery. The novel follows in the tradition of slave narratives but also confronts the more painful and taboo aspects of slavery, such as sexual abuse and violence. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988. When the novel failed to win the National Book Award, a number of writers protested the omission.

The book follows the story of Sethe and her daughter Denver as they try to rebuild their lives after having escaped from slavery. Their home, 124 Bluestone Road, Cincinnati, is haunted by a revenant, who turns out to be the ghost of Sethe's daughter. Because of the haunting—which often involves things being thrown around the room—Sethe's youngest daughter, Denver, is shy, friendless, and housebound, and her sons, Howard and Buglar, have run away from home by the time they are thirteen. Shortly afterward, Baby Suggs, the mother of Sethe's husband Halle, dies in her bed.

Paul D, one of the slaves from Sweet Home, the plantation where Baby Suggs, Sethe, Halle, he, and many other slaves had worked, arrives at 124. He tries to bring a sense of reality into the house. He also tries to make the family move forward and leave the past behind. In doing so, he forces out the ghost of Beloved. At first, he seems to be successful, because he leads the family to a carnival, out of the house for the first time in years. However, on their way back, they encounter a young woman sitting in front of the house. She has the distinct features of a baby and calls herself Beloved. Denver recognizes right away that she must be a reincarnation of her sister Beloved. Paul D, suspicious, warns Sethe, but charmed by the young woman, Sethe ignores him. Paul D is gradually forced out of Sethe's home by a supernatural presence.

When made to sleep outside in a shed, he is cornered by Beloved, who has put a spell on him. She burrows into his mind and heart, forcing him to have sex with her, while flooding his mind with horrific memories from his past. Overwhelmed with guilt, Paul D tries to tell Sethe about it but cannot and instead says he wants her pregnant. Sethe is elated, and Paul D resists Beloved and her influence over him. But, when he tells friends at work about his plans to start a new family, they react fearfully. Stamp Paid reveals the reason for the community's rejection of Sethe.

When Paul D asks Sethe about it, she tells him what happened. After escaping from Sweet Home and making it to her mother-in-law's home where her children were waiting, Sethe was found by her master, who attempted to reclaim Sethe and her children. Sethe grabbed her children, ran into the tool shed and tried to kill them all, succeeding only with her oldest daughter. Sethe explains to Paul D, saying she was "trying to put my babies where they would be safe." The revelation is too much for him, and he leaves for good. Without Paul D, the sense of reality and time moving forward disappears.

Sethe comes to believe that the girl, Beloved, is the daughter she murdered when the girl was only two years old; her tombstone reads only "Beloved". Sethe begins to spend carelessly and spoil Beloved out of guilt. Beloved becomes angry and more demanding, throwing hellish tantrums when she doesn't get her way. Beloved's presence consumes Sethe's life to the point where she becomes depleted and sacrifices her own need for eating, while Beloved grows bigger and bigger. In the climax of the novel, Denver, the youngest daughter, reaches out and searches for help from the black community. People arrive at 124 to exorcise Beloved, and it is revealed that Beloved was not getting fat, as previously alluded, but is in fact pregnant from her encounters with Paul D. While Sethe is confused and has a "rememory" of her master coming again, Beloved disappears.

At the outset, the reader is led to assume Beloved is a supernatural, incarnate form of Sethe's murdered daughter. Later, Stamp Paid reveals the story of "a girl locked up by a white man over by Deer Creek. Found him dead last summer and the girl gone. Maybe that's her". Both are supportable by the text. Beloved sings a song known only to Sethe and her children; elsewhere, she speaks of Sethe's earrings without having seen them.

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