Moses E Herzog, a character loosely based on Saul Bellow, has been divorced twice, fathered a child from each marriage and his career in academia is slowly diminishing when we meet him. This being the case, he is not altogether in a sound psychological and emotional state. To cope with his anger and frustrations he is writing mental letters to people with whom the nature of their relationships may vary from personal to professional, etc. The content of the letters is often triggered by different memories from Herzog’s past and we follow Herzog’s brain from letter to memory to letter to present and back again. In doing so, we are able to come to understand what has brought Herzog to this state and why he suffers as much as he does. By creating a narrative in such a style we see Herzog as a man mostly consumed by thoughts and ideas, not just having to do with intellectual matters, but personal matters of human behavior including his own.
Herzog is for the most part a kind, loving, trusting and loyal person. We see him continuously trusting people despite their betrayal of him over and over again. The main source of this betrayal is his coldly attractive second ex-wife Madeline. At the time we meet him, he is involved with another woman, who seems to be supportive, but he continuously is trying to escape her. Herzog has almost resigned himself to destruction by women by either avoiding the right women or hurting them and then binding himself to the nasty ones. Furthermore, he feels that his fate is sealed by his parents’ genes. He is always linking certain character traits of his own to those of his mother or father, often with a fatalistic approach, anticipating a tragic end.
At the climax of the story, Herzog tries to gain control by salvaging his relationship with his children as well as restoring a crumbling house in the middle of nowhere, Massachusetts. What we must decide is: is it too late for poor old Herzog?
Herzog is for the most part a kind, loving, trusting and loyal person. We see him continuously trusting people despite their betrayal of him over and over again. The main source of this betrayal is his coldly attractive second ex-wife Madeline. At the time we meet him, he is involved with another woman, who seems to be supportive, but he continuously is trying to escape her. Herzog has almost resigned himself to destruction by women by either avoiding the right women or hurting them and then binding himself to the nasty ones. Furthermore, he feels that his fate is sealed by his parents’ genes. He is always linking certain character traits of his own to those of his mother or father, often with a fatalistic approach, anticipating a tragic end.
At the climax of the story, Herzog tries to gain control by salvaging his relationship with his children as well as restoring a crumbling house in the middle of nowhere, Massachusetts. What we must decide is: is it too late for poor old Herzog?
