[.ca] Conversations with Saul Bellow (ISBN 0878057188)

Talking about ideas:
This book contains interviews spanning from 1953 to 1994, usually precipitated after the release of a novel, but topics range from the state of literature, to his own quest for understanding. For some of these, Bellow had a chance to review and edit the completed transcript, and the words are well crafted. There is some biographic info included (e.g., Dr. Goldenweiser assured him he wasn't cut out for science. His papers had "to much style"), but generally Bellow avoids the trapping of "cultural furniture", and it's gossip-like quality. The best of these conversations focus on ideas and novels. Many of the books contain autobiographical characteristics that comes out in the writing, as Bellow says, "My faults of character emerge in my writing". But when talking about Sammler, he warns that a character has his own logic. "I do not choose such a person for the purpose of expressing my own religious views". The two most biographical pieces are contained in "It all adds up", his book of non-fiction. The index is nicely done, and allows for easily finding material about a particular novel. Bellow remains optimistic about the role of art in society "Maybe civilization is dying, but it still exists, and meanwhile we have our choice: we can either rain more blows on it, or try to redeem it". Although "What you call optimism may be nothing more that an mismanaged, misunderstood, vitality". There are interesting antidotes about Chicago, his beloved city, for example, when Mayor Daley presented Bellow a check, a reporter asked if he had read Herzog, Daley responded "I've looking into it". There is a fun piece with Gloria Steinman who spends a day in Chicago with him. During one interview he talks of writing a non-fiction book on Chicago, but that evolved into the "Dean's December. One of my favorite quotes is "I'm happy when the revisions are big. I'm not speaking of stylistic revisions, but revisions in my own understanding. ... .Exceptional things must be attempted if the game is to be worth the candle". Other interviews are now available online.