Saul Bellow: 1915-2005

Saul Bellow was born in a suburb of Montreal, Quebec, on June 10th, 1915. His parents had emigrated from Russia to Canada in 1913 and they moved to Chicago in 1924.

In 1933, Bellow entered the University of Chicago, but transferred to Northwestern University, where he studied anthropology and sociology. He graduated from Northwestern University in 1937. The chairman of the English department had told Bellow to forget his plans to study the language: "No Jew could really grasp the tradition of English literature".

Bellow became a teacher, holding various posts at the Universities of Minnesota, New York, Princeton and Puerto Rico.

It took years before Bellow published his first book, "The Dangling Man", in 1944. From 1960 to 1962, Bellow was co-editor of the literary magazine "The Noble Savage", and in 1962, he was appointed professor on the Committee of Social Thought at the University of Chicago.

Besides novels, Bellow has also published short stories and plays. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1976.

Saul Bellow died on April 6, 2005.