IntroductionSaul Bellow was a Canadian-American writer of Jewish descent who wrote about the disorienting nature of modern civilization and the counterbalancing ability of human beings to overcome their own fragility and achieving greatness. Bellow interspersed autobiographical elements in his fiction, and many of his main characters are said to have resembled him. In his novels, Saul Bellow uses his life experiences from early childhood and late adulthood to reflect on the events of the novel through his characters. Saul Bellow was born Solomon Bellows in Lachine, Quebec on June 10, 1915 to poor Russian Jewish parents. Bellow was known for keeping his personal life very private, but there are some facts that have been uncovered over the years. In 1924, Bellow moved to Chicago to attend high school and college; the urban landscape surrounding the city would appear later in his writings. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay After attending the University of Chicago for two years, he transferred to Northwestern University where he majored in Anthropology. After graduation, Bellow decided to continue graduate studies in the field of anthropology by attending the University of Wisconsin, but unfortunately dropped out later to get married. He then took up a job composing short biographies of Midwestern writers and later took an editorial position at the Encyclopedia Britannica. Bellow lived through the Depression and World War II, serving briefly in the Merchant Marine. Over the course of his life, Bellow taught at numerous universities, including the University of Minnesota, New York University, Princeton, Bard, the University of Puerto Rico, and the University of Chicago. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the National Book Awards, two Guggenheim Fellowships, the Prix Litteraire International, the Jewish Heritage Award, the 1975 Pulitzer Prize, and the Nobel Prize in Literature. Saul Bellow's novel Herzog has a narrative plot, which takes place in the mind of Moses Herzog, its protagonist. Moses is a middle-aged university professor living temporarily in his country house in Berkshire. Moses has gotten into the habit of writing letters, which make up a large part of the novel, but he never sends them to the recipients. Through letters in the novel we learn that before Moses married Madeleine, he was married to a woman named Daisy, and has a son named Marco. We also learn that Moses grew up in a Jewish immigrant family in LaRoux, Canada, and that his father failed at many business ventures and eventually became a bootlegger. Moses also tells the stories of his brothers and sisters and constantly mentions his efforts as a writer. He published a book titled Romanticism and Christianity, but never completed the book's intended second volume. Later, Moses decides to visit his friends on Martha's Vineyard, mostly because he wants to escape from his lover, Ramona. Almost immediately after arriving on the Vineyard Moses decides to return to New York, where he compulsively writes letters. Moses spends the next night with Ramona and decides the following morning that he must fight his ex-wife for custody of their daughter June. Moses calls his lawyer and arranges a court meeting. The next day, Moses impulsively flies to Chicago to visit his daughter. In Chicago, he travels to his childhood home, where his widowed stepmother still lives. There he goes to his late father's desk and takes out his old gun."