"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Character is very much the issue in Ravelstein, whose eponymous subject is a thinly disguised version of Bellow's boon companion, the late Allan Bloom. Like Bloom, Abe Ravelstein has spent much of his career at the University of Chicago, fighting a rearguard action against the creeping boobism and vulgarity of American life. What's more, he's written a surprise bestseller (a ringer, of course, for The Closing of the American Mind), which has made him into a millionaire. And finally, he's dying--has died from an AIDS-related illness, in fact, six years before the opening of the novel. What we're reading, then, is a faux-memoir by his best friend and anointed Boswell, a Bellovian body-double named Chick:
Ravelstein was willing to lay it all out for me. Now why did he bother to tell me such things, this large Jewish man from Dayton, Ohio? Because it very urgently needed to be said. He was HIV-positive, he was dying of complications from it. Weakened, he became the host of an endless list of infections. Still, he insisted on telling me over and over again what love was--the neediness, the awareness of incompleteness, the longing for wholeness, and how the pains of Eros were joined to the most ecstatic pleasures.Ravelstein is a little thin in the plot department--or more accurately, it has an anti-plot, that consists of Chick's inability to write his memoir. But seldom has a case of writer's block been so supremely productive. The narrator dredges up anecdote after anecdote about his subject, assembling a composite portrait: "In approaching a man like Ravelstein, a piecemeal method is perhaps best." We see this very worldly philosopher teaching, kvetching, eating, drinking and dying, the last in melancholic increments. His death, and Chick's own brush with what Henry James called "the distinguished thing," give much of the novel a kind of black-crepe coloration. But fortunately, Bellow shares Ravelstein's "Nietzschean view, favourable to comedy and bandstands," and there can't be many eulogies as funny as this one.
As always, the author is lavish with physical detail, bringing not only his star but a large gallery of minor players to rude and resounding life ("Rahkmiel was a non-benevolent Santa Claus, a dangerous person, ruddy, with a red-eyed scowl and a face in which the anger muscles were highly developed"). His sympathies are also stretched in some interesting directions by his homosexual protagonist. Bellow hasn't, to be sure, transformed himself into an affirmative-action novelist. But his famously capacious view of human nature has been enriched by this additional wrinkle: "In art you become familiar with due process. You can't simply write people off or send them to hell." A world-class portrait, a piercing intimation of mortality, Ravelstein is truly that other distinguished thing: a great novel. --James Marcus
This book rings with laughter and joy....Ravelstein is an extraordinary character...it is hard not to feel privileged at being allowed a glimpse into a human connection as intimate and rewarding as this one. Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post Book World (front-page review)
"With his new novel, Saul Bellow proves that he still dominates. . . . Ravelstein is full of heart and wisdom, and I want to praise it without a pinch of qualification. Sven Birkerts, Esquire
A cause for celebration...Bellow hugs the modern world hard in this novel...Ravelstein is rich, deep, and unnervingly entertaining. Jonathan Wilson, The New York Times Book Review (front-page review)
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. New to PMCAbe Ravelstein is a brilliant professor at a prominent midwestern university and a man who glories in training the movers and shakers of the political world. He has lived grandly and ferociously-and much beyond his means. His close friend Chick has suggested that he put forth a book of his convictions about the ideas which sustain humankind, or kill it, and much to Ravelstein's own surprise, he does and becomes a millionaire. Ravelstein suggests in turn that Chick write a memoir or a life of him, and during the course of a celebratory trip to Paris the two share thoughts on mortality, philosophy and history, loves and friends, old and new, and vaudeville routines from the remote past. The mood turns more somber once they have returned to the Midwest and Ravelstein succumbs to AIDS and Chick himself nearly dies. Abe Ravelstein is a professor who has lived much beyond his means. His close friend Chick suggests that he put forth a book of his convictions and much to his surprise, he does and becomes a millionaire. Ravelstein suggests in turn that Chick write a memoir. But, the mood turns somber once Ravelstein succumbs to AIDS and Chick himself nearly dies. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780141188850
Book Description paperback. Condition: New. Language: ENG. Seller Inventory # 9780141188850
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Book Description Paperback / softback. Condition: New. New copy - Usually dispatched within 4 working days. Abe Ravelstein is a professor who has lived much beyond his means. His close friend Chick suggests that he put forth a book of his convictions and much to his surprise, he does and becomes a millionaire. Ravelstein suggests in turn that Chick write a memoir. But, the mood turns somber once Ravelstein succumbs to AIDS and Chick himself nearly dies. Seller Inventory # B9780141188850
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Book Description Condition: New. 2008. Paperback. Abe Ravelstein is a professor who has lived much beyond his means. His close friend Chick suggests that he put forth a book of his convictions and much to his surprise, he does and becomes a millionaire. Ravelstein suggests in turn that Chick write a memoir. But, the mood turns somber once Ravelstein succumbs to AIDS and Chick himself nearly dies. Series: Penguin Modern Classics. Num Pages: 240 pages. BIC Classification: FA. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 196 x 129 x 18. Weight in Grams: 180. . . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland. Seller Inventory # V9780141188850