{"product_id":"9781598530025","title":"Novels 1956-1964","description":"\u003cp\u003ePassionate, insightful, often funny, and exhibiting a linguistic richness few writers have equaled, the novels of Saul Bellow are among the defining achievements of postwar American literature. The Library of America volume \u003ci\u003eNovels 1956–1964\u003c\/i\u003e opens with \u003ci\u003eSeize the Day\u003c\/i\u003e, a tightly wrought novella that, unfolding over the course of a single devastating day, explores the desperate predicament of the failed actor and salesman Tommy Wilhelm. The austere psychological portraiture of \u003ci\u003eSeize the Day \u003c\/i\u003eis followed by an altogether different book, \u003ci\u003eHenderson the Rain King\u003c\/i\u003e, the ebullient tale of the irresistible eccentric Eugene Henderson, best characterized by his primal mantra “I want! I want!” Beneath the novel’s comic surface lies an affecting parable of one man’s quest to know himself and come to terms with morality; like Don Quixote, Henderson is, as Bellow later described him, “an absurd seeker of high qualities.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHenderson’s irrepressible vitality is matched by that of Moses Herzog, the eponymous hero of Bellow’s best-selling 1964 novel. His wife having abandoned him for his best friend, Herzog is on the verge of mental collapse and has embarked on a furious letter-writing campaign as an outlet for his all-consuming rage. Bellow’s bravura performance in \u003ci\u003eHerzog\u003c\/i\u003e launched a new phase of his career, as literary acclaim was now joined by a receptive mass audience in America.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Library of America","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47050095657200,"sku":"9781598530025","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781598530025_p0.jpg?v=1763812122","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781598530025","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}