Saul Bellow once referred to his two earliest novels, ‘The Dangling Man’ and ‘The Victim’, as his ‘M.A. and Ph.D’ respectively. It wasn’t until his third novel, ‘Augie March’, that Bellow found his unique literary voice, a sort of sprawling and introspective philosophizing that mixed comedy with tragedy, realism with mysticism. One gets hints of this in ‘the Victim’, but on a whole the novel is distinctly different from his later works. For one, it is much more tightly constructed. The narrative isn’t just a backdrop to Bellow’s voice, but carefully and intentionally crafted. When the novel opens, Asa Leventhal is a middle aged Jew working for a trades paper. He has been down and out in the past, but life for him now is good. That is until a man from his past, Allbee, shows up. Years ago Allbee secured a job interview with his boss, Rudiger, for Asa. A confrontation arises in the interview that greatly upsets Rudiger. Shortly thereafter Allbee, who has struggled with alcoholism in the past, is fired and begins a long downward spiral. In Asa’s mind the confrontation had nothing to do with Allbee and arose simply because he wanted to maintain some ‘dignity’ in the face of the condescending Rudiger. However, in Allbee’s mind, it was an intentional ruse on Asa’s part to get him fired (apparently Albee had made some anti-Semitic remarks in the past, and Allbee believes this would be motivation enough for Asa). Thus, when Albee shows up years later, at the bottom of his spiral, he wants reparations.This is the central conflict of the novel (though Asa must deal with other issues as well, including a sick child in the family) and it is used quite nicely by Bellow to explore several themes. One of the central themes is the idea that life is fundamentally unfair sometimes. As Allbee puts it to Asa: ‘It’s necessary for you to believe that I deserve what I get. It doesn’t enter your mind, does it—that a man might not be able to help being hammered down? What do you say? Maybe he can’t help himself? No if a man is down, a man like me, it’s his fault…But I’ll tell you something. We do get it in the neck for nothing and suffer for nothing…” (132)This in itself is not a particularly novel insight, but it’s explored in a subtle and interesting way. Take the above quote, for example. By itself it’s a cogent, simply stated perspective. But Allbee, the source of this quote, is a bit of an emotional manipulator who may very well just be trying to get his way with Asa. That is to say, guilt tripping him. Thus, what we get in the ongoing confrontation between Asa and Allbee are some grains of truth here and there that must be dissected and considered beyond their face value.But the point that Allbee brings up is valid and Asa understands that he must reckon with it. Asa knows he has been fortunate, that he has in his words ‘got away with it’ and found himself a comfortable life. But having been down and out before, and living in a crowded city with throngs of people pressing upon him, he is very much aware that others have not quite been so lucky. And yet, ‘you couldn’t find a place in your feelings for everything, or give at every touch like a swinging door, the same for everyone, with people going in and out as they pleased.’ Thus, clearly there is some sort of balance, or reconciliation that needs to be reached within Asa. It is this reckoning which Asa refers to as a ‘showdown’ midway through the novel: “But what he meant by this preoccupying ‘showdown’ was a crisis which would bring an end of his resistance to something he had no right to resist. Illness, madness and death were forcing him to confront his fault. He had used every means, and principally indifference and neglect, to avoid acknowledging it and he still did not know what it was. But that was owing to the way he arranged not to know. He had done a great deal to make things easier for himself, toning down, softening, looking aside…”(142)And herein lies the major flaw of the novel. The stage is perfectly set for this showdown, the subtleties of thought and feeling that must go into it beforehand are explored, but the showdown never actually happens. Sure, there is a rather dramatic second to last chapter. But it is dramatic only for its physical action, not for any personal change that occurs in Asa. Of course, one cannot expect an author to resolve all questions raised in a piece of art, and perhaps it is not even his job to do so, but when one has a novel so deliberately structured, it seems a letdown not to have that structure have a concrete pay off. I’ve never been a fan of didactic writing (and truthfully, I wouldn’t quite describe ‘the Victim’ as didactic. But it is at least ‘idea driven). But if you’re going to build this literary contraption with such carefully detailed characters, and put such an effort into raising such a pointed question, why not use that contraption to the fullest? What happens in ‘the Victim’ is more akin to putting two heavyweight boxers in a ring for a 12 round bout, then at the beginning of the 12th round, cutting the match short. The very last sentence of the book, in fact, actually reads like a bit of a punchline on the preceding 256 pages. With all that being said, the book is still worth a read. For one, Bellow’s writing at this point in his career, on a sentence by sentence basis, is still remarkable. And even if it lacks of a clear overarching conclusion, there are some nuggets of true insight buried within the prose and grimy dealings of these two New York City inhabitants.
Here is what I posted, a few minutes ago, about the novella THE VICTIM is based upon: "THE ETERNAL HUSBAND is the model for Saul Bellow's novel, THE VICTIM. Having read and liked THE VICTIM, I decided to read Dostoevsky's novella. I read it in the translation by Pevear and Volokhonsky. Dostoevsky's masterpiece is not only the model for Bellow's book, it is the blueprint. Bellow's genius was to introduce the theme of antisemitism into Dostoevsky's story of a Christian sinner and his Christian nemesis." Before reading THE ETERNAL HUSBAND I posted my review of THE VICTIM. Here it is: While there are many peripheral characters in this, the second of Saul Bellow's published novels, THE VICTIM is essentially a two-character drama. I have a feeling Ed McBain/Evan Hunter got the inspiration for CAPE FEAR from this. (By the way, the novel which became the movie CAPE FEAR has a different title, but it should not be difficult to look up.) Bear in mind, of course, that Bellow is not writing a thriller, but a meditation on antisemitism.Briefly, the plot involves the reappearance in the life of Asa Leventhal, a moderately successful New York businessman, of Kirby Allbee, a man who, years before, at a party, had aimed antisemitic remarks at Leventhal. Allbee is back, accusing Leventhal of deliberately offending a man who gave Leventhal, at Allbee's recommendation, a job interview. Allbee, having been fired from his job after Leventhal's job interview, stalks Leventhal years after the fact, saying Leventhal owes him something. This could have been a Noir thriller. Indeed, it has surface similarities to a lot of potboilers of the era. (This novel was published in 1947.) But Bellow, who, in letters, referred to this as an apprentice work, nevertheless, invests it with an unstinting realism. Leventhal's visits to Staten Island to see his abandoned sister-in-law and his nephews show a world recognizable today, from the simple logistics of travel(you take a train to the Ferry, the Ferry to the dock, then a bus to the stop) to the sense of foreboding one gets walking around a neighborhood which is not your own. In short, Bellow is patient with details and uses them to create a mood.I have not read Dostoevsky's THE ETERNAL HUSBAND, but James Atlas, in his biography of Saul Bellow, points out that it is a source for THE VICTIM. I plan to read it, but I can't think Bellow is not almost as deep as Dostoevsky here.One chapter, placed at just the right spot in this novel, is a set-piece. Chapter 10 consists of Asa Leventhal's accidental encounter with a group of friends and associates as they eat in a cafeteria. He is called over to their table and the reader is treated to a conversation about Benjamin Disraeli, the Yiddish Theater, the movies and the importance, in an actor, of being neither less nor more than human. I think Bellow's model here is the James Joyce of Dubliners. Five different threads of conversation are treated at once, colleagues in creativity are grouped (musicians being the artists in Dubliners, actors being the artists in THE VICTIM.) The chapter could have been removed. Bellow's publisher asked him to remove it, in fact, and Bellow, a la Joyce, wrote back that it was not the publisher's place to insist on that. This is the chapter that makes this a masterpiece. It is a deep book either way, but it is celestial at that juncture. NOTE WRITTEN AFTER FINISHING THE ETERNAL HUSBAND: Even the set-piece in THE VICTIM reflects what amounts to a set-piece in THE ETERNAL HUSBAND. While Dostoevsky's scene advances the plot and the Bellow scene doesn't, both have a discussion of how to be human while producing art -- singing, in Dostoevsky's book and acting in Bellow's -- and both discussions are in scenes in both books showing the protagonist suddenly enjoying himself in lively company. Saul Bellow matched Dostoevsky almost point-for-point in THE VICTIM.less
What do You think about The Victim (1996)?
Who is the victim? Asa Leventhal, his brother Max, Albee, Mary, or all of them? In a labirenth of scenes, you face with lots of ordinary, and at the same time important things in man’s life, what makes you thinking about your responsibilities. All above his brother’s family problems, his wife's brother, and... Leventhal meets Albee whom he can’t remember but has had a big roll in his life! One goes through an unimportant situation which unbelievably changes important things in other's lives!شخصیت اصلی مانند بسیاری از آثار "بلو"، یک کلیمی ساکن نیویورک، در ابتدای سال های میانه ی عمر است، که از سوی آشنایی قدیمی، غیر منصفانه متهم می شود که علت تمامی بدبختی های او بوده. له ونتال در حالی که با مشکلات خانوادگی خود سر در گریبان است، تلاش می کند خود را از این اتهام مبرا کند. له ونتال در غیاب همسرش که برای چند هفته شهر را ترک کرده تا به مادر پیرش کمک کند تا از خانه ی قدیمی خانوادگی در بالتیمور کوچ کند، مسوول تمام وظایفی ست که معمولن به عهده ی همسرش بوده. برادر زاده اش بیمار شده و باید به آنها هم برسد. برادر همسرش نیز، برای کار در تکزاس، زن و دو پسرش را تنها گذاشته و فقط برایشان خرجی می فرستد. له ونتال در ستیز با خود است؛ در عین حال باید به مشکلات دوست و آشنا هم رسیدگی کند. حالا آقای کربی هم، که له ونتال به سختی به یاد می آورد، مدعی ست که له ونتال مسبب بیکار شدن و بدبختی او شده. فرزند برادر می میرد و عذاب وجدان تازه ای به مصیبت ها افزوده می شود. اما روزگار آقای آلبی تصادفن بهبود می یابد، با زنی آشنا می شود، کاری پیدا می کند و... سراغ له ونتال می آید تا از خشونت برخوردش عذرخواهی کند... پس چه کسی مسبب بدبختی های له ونتال است؟
—علی
What a crazy, weird book. I absolutely flew through this, because I'd been meaning to read it forever, and had started a while back and put it down, so I basically just caught the main plotlines and characters and missed a lot of the intricacies, though it seems a fairly simple book. But what an intriguing setup! Has that kind of Kafkaesque inevitability to it. But yeah, the protag/antag setup was just so interesting, nothing I've really read before. Totally a unique book, while also being just a straightforward narrative. Mostly just a great story, I guess. Will have to read it again some day.
—Paul
I really like this book because it blends internal paranoia with general questions about life.The book is about a Jewish newspaper man who is suffering from persecutional delusions that occurs when a person is stressed and is prone to wanting everyone to like him. The stressor seems to be that his wife is gone on an extended period but he suddenly feels guilty for things which he should not feel guilty about. For example,his nephew dies and suddenly he feels guilty about it though he reasons tha
—Patrick
