Facts about Saul Bellow

1. 13

   Bellow's correspondence with fellow author Philip Roth spanned decades and revealed deep intellectual disagreements about American Jewish identity and literary aesthetics.

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2. 12

   Mr. Sammler's Planet, published in 1970, earned Bellow the National Book Award and cemented his status as one of America's most intellectually rigorous novelists.

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3. 11

   Four marriages defined Bellow's personal life, with his third wife Alexandra being a Soviet-born pianist whom he married in 1956 and divorced in 1959.

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4. 10

   From 1993 to 2005, Bellow served as a professor at Boston University, teaching in the Creative Writing Program during the final decades of his career.

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5. 09

   Bellow's 1956 novel Seize the Day, a novella of only 176 pages, became one of his most widely taught works in American universities and high schools.

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6. 08

   Ravelstein, Bellow's final novel published in 2000 when he was 85 years old, drew heavily from his friendship with University of Chicago philosopher Allan Bloom.

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7. 07

   Dangling Man, Bellow's 1944 debut novel, established his introspective psychological style and was followed by The Victim in 1947, marking the beginning of his distinctive literary voice.

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8. 06

   At the University of Chicago, Bellow taught creative writing for over three decades beginning in 1962, mentoring generations of American writers while maintaining his own prolific output.

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9. 05

   Saul Bellow's 1964 novel Herzog won the International Literary Prize and sold over one million copies in its first year of publication.

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10. 04

    The Adventures of Augie March, Saul Bellow's 1953 novel, was nominated for the National Book Award and established his reputation as a major American literary figure.

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11. 03

    Born in Quebec City in 1915, Saul Bellow immigrated to Chicago at age nine, a city that became the primary setting for his most celebrated novels including The Adventures of Augie March.

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12. 02

    Humboldt's Gift, published by Saul Bellow in 1975, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction the following year and features a protagonist obsessed with a deceased writer's unpublished manuscript.

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13. 01

    In 1976, Saul Bellow won the Nobel Prize in Literature at age 61, becoming the first American-born writer to receive the award that decade.

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