Saul Bellow, The Adventures of Augie March

Richard O’Brien (Independent Scholar - Europe)

Ed. by John Thieme, University of East Anglia
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1953

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel
- Bildungsroman
Picaresque

Resources

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Saul Bellow’s third novel won the National Book Award in its year of publication. It is structured around the episodic adventures of Augie March, a “larky and boisterous” modern-day picaro who is a lover of experience for its own sake and restlessly craves for “a worthwhile fate”. In contrast to Bellow’s earlier introverted protagonists, Augie openly embraces the external world. In his own words, he is on a journey of discovery as a “sort of Columbus of those near-at-hand”. To all appearances he is constantly and aimlessly on the move, the motivation behind his adventures being to discover “something greater than myself”, although this “something” is not satisfactorily explained. He says he is seeking to discover “what I was meant to be”, a seemingly ambiguous…

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2589 words

Citation: O’Brien, Richard. "The Adventures of Augie March". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 02 November 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=1648, accessed 18 April 2024.]

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