Book Review: "Humboldt's Gift" by Saul Bellow

Saul Bellow is an interesting writer because he really is growing on me. I've often said that I'm not a huge fan of his novel The Adventures of Augie March mainly because it goes on for much longer than it needs to. However, novels like Ravelstein, Herzog and The Dangling Man are among some great works of Bellow's and I'm still reading around. Humboldt's Gift is my latest one and if I've said one thing it's that Saul Bellow writes better when he makes an attempt at conciseness. Though, this book is a longer one...

The book starts off with Charlie Citrine (someone who is constantly seen as a reflection of the author himself, though I don't know how true that is) looking back on his weird friendship with a man named Von Humboldt Fleisher - a strange poet who is very clearly an unstable character. Von Humboldt Fleisher once mentored Charlie and well, there is nothing amazing about this friendship even though Saul Bellow writes it amazingly.

Even though Humboldt believes in high art, he becomes resentful of Charlie’s commercial success and perceived compromise with mass culture. Of course, this is a core theme of many of Bellow's works - how we as people can reject a mass culture in favour of something more meaningful, but then again is it actually more meaningful? The downfall of Humboldt would suggest it is not. In fact, it might just be resent that creates this storyline for him. He wants to have this artistic intelligent culture but resents the stupidity of the masses in the hands of commercialism.

Humboldt’s mental health declines and he becomes paranoid, financially reckless, and socially isolated. This is clearly one of the factions of being a poet - but it is also the mass rejection he feels at play. Two sides of one coin - both he and the commercialist culture are to blame here. But Humboldt dies impoverished and largely forgotten, leaving behind a complicated emotional and moral legacy for Charlie. Charlie is very clearly conflicted about his mentorship and friendship under Humboldt, but he is not completely in the clear, complicating the message of whether it is better to follow high art or commercialist culture.

Charlie struggles with his own life with events such as: a disastrous marriage, an expensive divorce, legal troubles, and entanglements with shady figures, including a gangster named Rinaldo Cantabile. Charlie has a clear vulnerability that is ripe to be exploited by men like Cantabile, but he also has this weird naivety which makes him seem a bit docile. I'm not sure whether Saul Bellow did this on purpose to get the story moving but at times, his lack of practicality can be very annoying. Especially considering that he is a man who is trying to convince us that he is quite knowledgeable. Cantabile ends up extorting Charlie and dragging him into various schemes.

In these times of crises, Charlie becomes obsessed with questions of meaning, mortality, art, and whether intellectual life still matters in modern America. This is where we get the same questions we are used to being asked in novels like Ravelstein - existential intellect questions. Probably one of the highlights of the whole book is Charlie's realisation that commercialism is the very thing that is killing America - something he handed himself over to quite willingly. Something Humboldt couldn't clearly articulate though he was halfway there. Charlie's friendship with the big bully that is the gangster shows us the battle of artistic integrity (the message of Humboldt) vs. the commercial wants of Charlie's new 'friend'

I'm not going to tell you what the gift is exactly for that is something that has a whole meaning on its own. Charlie though, will experience some sort of renewal under this, though he will have to realise it through great strain. There is something of a tragic figure in Humboldt that transforms as the book moves forwards. Charlie projects his own meaning on to this figure. It's not just about creating art in the end, it is about having some sort of meaning. The philosophical change in America from the collective to the commercial is one thing that starts to disintergrate that. Charlie must find it on his own - or with the help of a deceased Humboldt - which is why the 'gift' is so symbolic.

All in all, this book was clever. Though sometimes I did find the main character pretty annoying and it made it difficult to fully immerse myself in the book - I was on board with the messages. Be that as it may, I don't think it's in my favourites by Saul Bellow.