The Resilience of Moses Herzog: Saul Bellow and the Humanist Novel

The oeuvre of American writer Saul Bellow (1915-2005) is deeply humanist in its emphasis on human
autonomy, growth and meaning. For Bellow, humans are self-interpreting beings with agency and the
ability to shape their personalities. Bellow particularly emphasises human resilience: in his novels he
shows us resilient individuals who make an effort to take their lives into their own hands, refusing to be
passive victims of their circumstances and misfortunes. This view of man is most impressively expressed
in Bellow’s best-known novel Herzog (1964). The protagonist Moses Herzog goes through a severe crisis
and almost succumbs to his misery, but eventually emerges from his difficulties as a renewed and stronger
person after a learning process of self-examination and reorientation. In this article, I discuss Bellow’s
humanist ideas, the way they take shape in Herzog, and in particular the role of resilience in them.