Saul Bellow, The Victim

Gloria Cronin (Brigham Young University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1947

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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The Victim

(1947), written in the aftermath of the Holocaust, intensely explores the ability of twentieth-century man to cope with victimization and paranoia. During one long hot summer during which his wife is temporarily absent, Asa wrestles with fears about his job security, anti-Semitism, and the predations into his private life of his seedy, gentile nemesis, Kirby Allbee.

Asa Leventhal, is a Jew scarred by his mother’s madness and screaming fits, and by his failure to bond with his father. When he loses both parents before his adult life really begins he is emotionally ill-equipped. His brother, Max, is absent for the summer also and his immigrant sister-in-law plagues him with pleas for financial help as well as help with his nephew, Mickey. When Mickey sickens and dies,

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398 words

Citation: Cronin, Gloria. "The Victim". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 October 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8048, accessed 18 April 2024.]

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