Saul Bellow
Facts
Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.
Saul Bellow
The Nobel Prize in Literature 1976
Born: 10 June 1915, Montreal, Canada
Died: 5 April 2005, Brookline, MA, USA
Residence at the time of the award: USA
Prize motivation: “for the human understanding and subtle analysis of contemporary culture that are combined in his work”
Language: English
Prize share: 1/1
Life
Saul Bellow was born in a suburb of Montreal, Canada, but grew up in the United States in Chicago. He graduated with a degree in anthropology and sociology in 1937. During World War II he was a soldier in the Marines while writing his first novel. In 1948 he received a scholarship that allowed him to move to Paris, where he began the novel The Adventures of Augie March (1953), his literary breakthrough. Bellow taught at several American universities, including Yale and Princeton.
Work
Saul Bellow worked as a writer and literary critic. He made his debut with the novel Dangling Man in 1944, but his big breakthrough came nine years later with The Adventures of Augie March. The novels Herzog (1964) and Humboldt’s Gift (1975) became major commercial successes. Bellow is considered one of the innovators of the American novel. He based his books on people in their environment. Every now and then, Chicago served as a backdrop for Bellow’s stories.
Nobel Prizes and laureates
Six prizes were awarded for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. The 12 laureates' work and discoveries range from proteins' structures and machine learning to fighting for a world free of nuclear weapons.
See them all presented here.
