[.ca] 20th Century Henderson The Rain King (ISBN 0140189424)

Over-sold?:
I first read this in a literature class and then, remembering it but not remembering why I remembered it, I borrowed it from a friend and reread it. Now I remember that I remembered it for not being memorable, after the professor had billed it as great modern literature. "Henderson the Rain King" tells of a very wealthy but unsatisfied man who seeks meaning in life by traveling to Africa. He "kinda" finds it. The story is also "kinda" great. The search for meaning, external to the self, through a quest, is a story-line that permeates much of our literature and film, including the colorful "The Wizard of Oz". "Henderson" is not a prime example of that quest. It's a noble pursuit, adequately (read "mediocre") done and written fairly well, but it just doesn't stand out. I also think the search for meaning outside the self is rooted in a fallacy, as meaning is created by each of us, from within. For more on that viewpoint, see Viktor Frakl's "Man's Search for Meaning".

Into the Heart of Africa:
A few days ago I finished reading Saul Bellow's Henderson the Rain King, which was a great and entertaining read. The basic premise is comedic: a grumpy, spoiled, acerbic, rich American in his 50's seeks to discover meaning and wisdom and fulfillment by leaving New York and traveling to Africa to live and commune with a primitive African tribe. If this induces at least a subtle chuckle, then it is safe to say that you'd be laughing frequently through this hilarious and sometimes ribald romp. Not enough? Then consider that it has been named as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century by the well-respected Modern Library. Henderson is an independently wealthy man in his 50's who is unhappily married to his second wife, and when he gets to the point where he can stand his meager existence no longer and the trivial aimlessness of it all, he hires a guide to take him to the remote, African sahara, to the most primitive tribe they can find. They first end up with the Arnewi tribe, where Henderson becomes obsessed with the tribe's superstitious obsession with the frogs in the cistern, which keeps them from watering their cattle, and so in his attempt to rid them of this malady he ends up blowing up the whole thing while fending off the advances of a large women who is considered a beauty due to her "bittahness." After destroying the cistern, Henderson and his guide escape and try again with the Wariri tribe where he impresses the natives with his unparalleled feats of strength (Festivus, anyone?), which then propels him unwittingly into the position of sungo (rain king) when rain immediately follows. There he befriends the king of the tribe, Dahfu, and the tale of Henderson carries us on a humorous journey where we come face to face with lions, tall amazonian women, and scheming uncles. Henderson is an interesting counter figure to someone like, say, Roth's Swede Levov (American Pastoral), where both men have a privileged adulthood but yet both are incapable of settling down into it. Levov gets tragically ripped away while Henderson is comically tied to it even in the far reaches of Africa. Henderson's pretentiousness and bombastic response to everything (his attempt to kill his little house cat still makes me laugh) makes him the perfect target for Dahfu's psychological experiment, for even in his gregariousness, Henderson's goal is to existentially discover the importance of being an intricate, vital element of some grand venture, which Dahfu supplies. One might fall into the temptation of reading this book as a generic critique of the dangers of "civilization" within a sort of Rousseauian framework, although the "savages" in Bellow's book are something less than entirely "noble." Nevertheless, I decline to read it this way, for I think the book speaks to psychology, to the inner man, to the aspirations and "life-force" in a discontented soul, rather than to politics or history or the delimitating ways in which cultural norms interact with those on other continents. Or, one could just sit back and have a grand old time laughing at Henderson, and the fact that he laughs at himself, even in his gargantuan seriousness, makes us love him all the more. He's like that grouchy, eccentric grandfather we can't help but love, even in his most obnoxious cantankerousness. The bottom line, though, is that this book is terribly funny and clever, and Bellow has a way of avoiding the negative qualities of stream-of-consciousness prose while at the same time distilling from it its funnier aspects. This was the first Saul Bellow book that I had ever read, but immediately afterwards I put several more on my reading list.

Henderson the Ugly American:
Henderson is a worthless mild age malcontent searching for fullfillment. A hard drinker and womanizer, Henderson has few if any admirable characterstics. The typical American who consumes in mass, Henderson determines that the only way to be truely happy is to subject himself on the third world and off to Africa he goes. In Africa he determines that he must go into the bush to live among the natives. His first attempt to help the unsuspecting Africans is a total disaster with Henderson and his guide barely escaping with their heads. His second encounter is with a much more hostile tribe but somehow Henderson befriends the Prince. The tribe beleives that Henderson is responsible for bringing much needed rain and he is beleived by teh tribe to be a God. When Henderson suspects that his ultimate duty is to be sacrificed, he determines that it is time to leave. Somehow in his dealings with the King Henderson rediscovers some part of his self respect. Henderson the Rain King is funny and entertaining and worth the read.

Brilliant Story For Our Time:
First, a warning- Bellow's HENDERSON THE RAIN KING is a time-consuming novel. It requires patience. Dedication and open mind. Like HERZOG, this is a novel about life, and its meaning. A giant book not for the lazy reader. Henderson is the evil, greedy American, typical of his "I want, I want" generation. On an impulse, this hard-drinking tycoon walks out of his marriage to "darkest Africa." There, he rises to the rank of rain-maker to a primitive tribe and becomes right hand man to a local chief, Dahfu. The strength of the novel comes from numerous wisdom embedded in its' story and dialogues (wisdom drawn from Kabbala, the Holy Bible, etc). An example is: "Do you know how to replace the whole thing? It cannot be done. Even if, on supreme moments, there is no old and there is no ne, but only an essence which can smile at our arrangement- smile even at being human." (p 276, Aust'l Penguin ed.) This is funny, brilliant book. Generous without being sentimental. Read it!!!

A comic mid-life initiation story:
This is an interesting piece of expatriate literature. The "Lost Generation"--represented by the likes of Hemingway and Fitzgerald--churned out a host of literature that dealt with an America that was recovering from two world wars, and that was just beginning to realize its significance as a world power. This book belongs to the next generation of Americans, one who may not be able to find all of the answers in America but who nevertheless has a sense of national identity. It is a tale of a man named Henderson, an eccentric American millionaire who realizes he is searching for something and has to go to Africa to find it. Henderson, a man who never seems to do anything right, finds himself on the African continent, and learns enough about life to give him the direction he needs. This book is very entertaining. Bellow's prose is intriguing and his dialogue interesting. At times, this book is so absurd it is downright funny, and Henderson is the perfect sort of unlikely and hapless hero that most of us can relate to. All in all, this is a great book for anyone interested in twentieth-century literature, particularly expatriate literature.