The Art of Control: Theatrical Watching, Apostrophe and Acting in Saul Bellow's Herzog

Abstract

So wide-ranging is Bellow's employment of the acting image and hence of personas in Herzog that references to stage, acting and script-writing are dispersed everywhere in the novel. A vigilant study of this image reveals that the mutual relationships and social encounters of major characters bear on dramatic scenes written, directed, and performed by the characters themselves.
 But what does Bellow try to discover through the medium of acting and hence persona? How is it reflected in his treatment of his main themes and characters? And does it affect the narrative point of view? In order to understand the image more deeply and answer these questions, I will study it in relation to three groups of characters: first, Madeleine, Gersbach, and some of Herzog's friends; second, Ramona (the newest girl friend) and his parents and relatives; and third, Herzog, the versatile actor-audience and the ever writer of the unsent letters or the multiple character.