''Dangling Man'' is a 1944 novel by
Saul Bellow
Saul Bellow (born Solomon Bellows; 10 July 1915 – 5 April 2005) was a Canadian-born American writer. For his literary work, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only wr ...
. It is his first published work.
Plot summary
Written in diary format, the story centers on the life of an unemployed young man named Joseph, his relationships with his wife and friends, and his frustrations with living in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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and waiting to be drafted. His diary serves as a philosophical confessional for his musings. It ends with his entrance into the army during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, and a hope that the regimentation of army life will relieve his suffering. Along with Bellow's second novel ''
The Victim'', it is considered his "apprentice" work.
Reception
Some critics, including
Edmund Wilson
Edmund Wilson Jr. (May 8, 1895 – June 12, 1972) was an American writer and literary critic who explored Freudian and Marxist themes. He influenced many American authors, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose unfinished work he edited for publi ...
and
Kenneth Fearing
Kenneth Flexner Fearing (July 28, 1902 – June 26, 1961) was an American poet and novelist. A major poet of the Great Depression, Depression era, he addressed the shallowness and consumerism of American society as he saw it, often by ironically ...
, criticized the novel's lack of a definite plot, but praised Bellow's depiction of what they saw as the characteristic features of the generation of American intellectuals raised during the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
. ''Dangling Man'' can be seen as a
superfluous man
__NOTOC__
The superfluous man (russian: лишний человек, ''líshniy chelovék'', "extra person") is an 1840s and 1850s Russian literary concept derived from the Byronic hero. It refers to an individual, perhaps talented and capable, w ...
narrative, raising interesting parallels with Turgenev's ''The Diary of a Superfluous Man'' and exploring the 19th-century Russian literary concept through a contemporary American experience.
Irving S. Saposnik, in ''The Centennial Review'', wrote that "None of Saul Bellow's other novel's (''sic'') has perplexed his critics more than his first novel, ''Dangling Man''.
References in other works
The title ''Dangling Man'', an episode of the television show ''
The Crown
The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...
'', references the work.
Prince Charles
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...
, as portrayed by
Josh O'Connor
Josh O'Connor (born in 1989/1990) is a British actor. He portrayed a young Charles III (Prince Charles) in the Netflix drama ''The Crown'' (2019–2020), for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama and th ...
, compares himself to Joseph during the episode.
External links
Summary of Dangling Man on saulbellow.org
References
Novels by Saul Bellow
1944 American novels
Novels set in Chicago
Vanguard Press books
1944 debut novels
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