Herzog (novel)

Lore & Background

The novel opens with Herzog in his house in Ludeyville, Massachusetts. He flees to Martha's Vineyard, then to New York, where he spends a night with Ramona. He goes to court to discuss custody of his daughter June, witnesses a hearing about a woman beating her child to death, and heads to Chicago after receiving a letter about Valentine locking June in a car. He retrieves his father's antique pistol with two bullets, planning to kill Madeleine and Valentine, but abandons the plan after seeing Valentine bathing June safely. He crashes his car, is charged with possession of a loaded weapon, and his brother Will picks him up. Herzog ultimately returns to Ludeyville, where he decides against institutionalization and begins making plans to fix up the house, closing by saying he needs to write no further letters.

Reader's Guide

Herzog is significant for its exploration of a protagonist gripped by ideas, reflecting Bellow's observation that 'people don't realize how much they are in the grip of ideas.' The novel's style, told entirely from Herzog's point of view alternating between first- and third-person, immerses the reader in his consciousness. The letters, which become fewer as the novel progresses, mirror the healing of Herzog's mind as he turns from inner struggles toward the real world. The novel contains autobiographical elements: Bellow, like Herzog, grew up in Canada, the son of bootleggers from St. Petersburg, was Jewish, lived in Chicago, and was twice divorced at the time. Valentine Gersbach is based on Jack Ludwig, who had an affair with Bellow's second wife, and Ramona on Rosette C. Lamont. Both reviewed the novel without mentioning these parallels. Bellow dismissed the relevance, calling it 'a curiosity about reality, which is impure.'

Did You Know?

• The novel won both the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction and the Prix International.
• The protagonist Moses E. Herzog writes letters to historical recipients who are dead or whom he never knew.
• The character Valentine Gersbach is based on Jack Ludwig, a friend who had an affair with Bellow's second wife.