Humboldt's Gift
by Saul Bellow · first published 1973
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3HN commenters
2019–2026first – last mentioned
33% recommend67% neutral
For many years, the great poet Von Humboldt Fleisher and Charlie Citrine, a young man inflamed with a love for literature, were the best of friends. At the time of his death, however, Humboldt is a failure, and Charlie's life has reached a low point: his career is at a standstill, and he's enmeshed in an acrimonious divorce, infatuated with a highly unsuitable young woman, and involved with a neurotic mafioso. And then Humboldt acts from beyond the grave, bestowing upon Charlie an unexpected legacy that may just help him turn his life around.
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…and letters, then the multitudinous biographies, memoirs, and studies that came out in the decades following his death." This was precisely my experience in my early 20s! And how many times have I read Humboldt's Gift?
on “The Manifold Mind of Saul Bellow” ↗Reading Humboldt's Gift, by Saul Bellow, I could have made a gigantic list of things I had never read or often even heard of, and still left out about half the references I didn't see because I didn't know they were references.
on “Bad Habits Creeping into Your Writing?” ↗…matters. Here. I just did it. 2003. Middlesex. Book about a girl that's not a girl. 1982. Rabbit Is Rich. Book from a series that explores drugs, identity, religion, this one has alcoholism themes. 1976. Humboldt's Gift. Story about commodification and culture. The whole point of the Pulitzer for books novels and music is to encourage and highlight the unique stuff. The fact that they may reflect the current themes…
on “2022 Pulitzer Prizes” ↗