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It All Adds Up – Intellectually

By Clarissa Lee

First published in Malaysiakini.com in 2001

It All Adds Up book cover Saul Bellow is not a household name here in Malaysia and not everyone here had read or will read his books. They will neither understand his themes without doing some form of intellectual calisthenics nor will they grasp the high drama of the mind. Being a child of émigré parents of the Russian-Jew stock, the themes of his stories and novels dwelt a lot into the issue of the Russian revolution of the 1917 and how it affected the Jewish immigrant communities, who followed tensely the radio broadcasts of the revolution, and argued at the dinner table or with their fellow Jewish neighbours on the outcome of the revolution. It was then a time of unrest following the First World War and many Jews were running away from Hitler’s gulag. His was a time when Chicago was famous for its underworld of Al Capone and his ilk, of Dick Tracy and the various European immigrants depicted in the novels, plays and potboilers of the American authors of the early twentieth century.

In this charming book, It All Adds Up, were collected essays and speeches given by our Nobel Laureate taken from various sources, from the Bostonia to the Partisan Review. Some were taken from various lectures he gave, socio-political travelogues and eulogies of the intellectual giants and belles-lettres of his time as well as forewords he has penned for his colleagues. The book is divided into six sections, with a preface and an overture (a tribute he paid to Mozart at the Mozart Bicentennial in a speech delivered on 5th December 1991 in Florence, Italy as was given at the footnote of the first page of the essay). Part One is Bellow’s general writings, mainly his political observations and the social analysis of the society of his youth. Part Two concerns that of the elite group of writers, intellectuals and how politics influenced the general thought of this group of people. Part Three is Bellow’s social commentaries on the American and European world. The commentaries are not ethnocentric but deal with universal themes that are even true in Malaysia today. Part Four deals with his travels and observations made during his journey to various European and U.S.A.’s capitals and even the native land of his ancestors, Israel, of which he spoke a lot on the political climate, the social revolution that comes with that and the pre-occupations of its citizens. Part Five concerns mainly the tributes paid to his close friends and compatriots, most of whom had passed on, and some written as a foreword to their publications. The list includes notables such as Isaac Rosenfeld, a Russian-Jew Intellectual and philosopher to John Berryman, a famous modern poet with a tragic life. Part Six is that of the interview between Bellow and Keith Botsford of Bostonia, Boston’s local news-magazine. The topics dealt with in this book are so vast that to give a thorough discussion of each individual subjects and then to show the link from one to the other would had consumed too much space. But I will attempt to bring the discussion in such a way in hope of generating responses from the readers and to refrain from aphoristic pretensions.

Whilst reading this book, I was ashamed to find myself lacking in so much knowledge when it comes to studying and understanding the precepts of humanity; that of philosophy, sociology, political systems that are the pillars in any society and that which determines the ideology of a community. Perhaps I'd joined the thousands of Americans mentioned in the book who are confused by the education that they’d received at college, or who has learnt enough only for social intercourse without appearing foolish.

I might had been ingrained in the junk high culture that is the pre-occupation with the educated class of our society as it is in the American society (pg. 326-327) or living the life of the deluded self-professed intellectual of the New York society (pg. 218-219). In the preface, he reminisces on his past writings how he has transformed and matured as a writer with each passing year. As he said, a writer’s worst nightmare would be to have all his mistakes indelibly recorded. True to his style, as you would notice in his novels, if you’d read them, and in the essays gathered in this edition, is his fascination with quoting intellectuals in support of his thesis and how each has matured to the stage where they produce their best works and when they don’t (according to his personal preference). He bemused on how he would had done the things he did (in this case his writings) differently if he could relive that period of his life that produced the writings.

The overture of the book bespoke of his views of Mozart at the metaphysical and sociological level for he does not write about Mozart the musician, but Mozart as a genius that’s beyond this Earth (an echo of what was said about a genius being a gift that transcends a lifetime), and how he relates to the mass public. Bellow related his experience as student-usher to the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago and how it has shaped his perception as an amateur music lover. He described, from the point of a view of a non-specialist, that music is a tonal code from which is derived a whole range of feeling, emotion, and belief (though we could see he was looking only at the pre-atonal era when music is mainly harmony). He quoted Ortega y. Gasset who said that men could not distinguish between a natural object or process and artifact. An example that he gave is that of a lift. That a man takes it for granted that when he enters the lift and press a button, it would go towards the floor of his destination, but that when it fails to do so he complains. It is true that most of the educated class of people would not understand how the mechanical thing works or how to repair it if it breaks down. But to accuse them of being unable to differentiate two distinct objects is presumptuous. Bellow used our nonunderstanding of the natural process in life to relate to our non-understanding in how music could be wondrously depicted. Mozart’s boisterous personality is discussed in the light of today’s liberal times and from the various depictions given to him by his biographers and contemporaries. I will refrain from going into more details to avoid leaving the reader with no more room for self-interpretation.

In Riding of in All Directions, the first part of the book, Bellow is indeed traipsing in all directions as he contemplates Chicago during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt that came about after the Great Depression, and how he was suppose to bring hope of a new lease of life to the despondent country. Bellow reminisce about the streets of Chicago and the magnates who made Chicago the place. An old world, with its brickchippers who pretend to be busy but are on the dole. It also coincides with Bellow’s coming of age and his exploration through his voracious appetite for books from which his desire for adventurous ideas is satiated. From the dinghy streets of Chicago, he galloped to the Soviet Union and its political upheaval during the reign of Khrushchev whom he likens to a “comic artist in a show written and directed about himself” (pg. 30), it was written during an era when the Cold War is beginning but credit must be given to Bellow for seeing beyond that of the farcical between the US and Soviet Union to look into individuals who are involved in the play. From the Russians, Bellow moved to the French in which he saw the grimness interspersed with romantic charm. He also analysed France in relation to Dostoyevsky’s Winter Notes. France, with the pervasiveness of literary obsession, could overwhelm even the most ardent littérateur. And back are we at the streets of Chicago to interview Yellow Kid Weil, an old-timer in the underworld (a man with the sharp mind of a trickster.

Of Writers, Intellectuals and Politics (Part Two) that is a collection of his essays some of which on the outset, seems more about the atmosphere of townships or the people than actually about the title given. But a closer examination revealed how he surreptitiously wove the intellectual and artistic mindset of a selected group to the commonalities of the bourgeoisie. His observations on the uneasy collaboration between the politicos and the creative group are wry and thorough. He talks about the disillusionary development of the imagination when the pre-occupation with facts has dimmed the ability for writings to move into the realm of fancy and wonder. He observes that the intellectuals had now sought refuge from the street in universities, a street that was once a source of their freedom and a fertile ground for the development of their works. He examines the trade of the novelist as oppose to those in the other creative arts scene, how that the novelist is independent in him without an entourage of supporting crew. He laments how the arts have now come under the patronage of institutions devoid of any real appreciation of it (Doesn’t this sound vaguely familiar in our country?). That the modern society, by its substitution through mechanical means, has defrauded the public of the real thing. That university has failed to produce an educated class that could appreciate the fine things in life (and not at a superficial level and this reminds you a lot of the product of our local universities). In this part, you will also be able to read the lecture delivered at the Nobel Prize giving ceremony. One can also read the delightful interview that Bellow conducts with himself, a kind of mental monologue that allows us an inside view at his thoughts. This part is also not spared his political ideas and observations for he was living in an age of change when political ideologies collided with that of capitalism and the intellectual world. When philosophers and writers put their foot into political reasoning.

Of The Distracted Public, Bellow decries how the American public (and it is true of our Malaysian public as well) are so caught up with the materialism that their mind is cluttered with information overload that are mainly junkish in nature. He looks fondly back into the past when the student population are less bothered with what’s ‘in’ at the moment but rather focus their thoughts and idealism on the intellectual heavyweights of the day, to criticize and empathise with them. Perhaps that’s over-dramatizing. As Bellow says, “it cost less to be poor then” when you can fulfill your needs with just a couple of hundred dollars and not be worried about unpaid bills. And true to the Bellowism, he would beef up his personal observations with observations of other intellectuals, writers and philosophers. Bellow’s Americans, the disembodied and detached citizen from the old world that came to seek its fortune in the new world is a lot like the Malaysian who’s ancestry could be traced back to a different country and life. Rootlessness is as much as our heritage as it is to them. In spite of the call for Bangsa Malaysia, we have yet to become a real melting pot seeing that we could still be easily identified with that of our ethnicity, unlike the New Yorkers for example. Bellow harks on the harsh realities of life that intrudes into the poetic grace of a higher mind and life. In here are nuggets of wisdom on subjects as varied as architecture to the judiciary.

Part Four, Thoughts in Transition, Bellow’s firsthand observation on how war, strife and hatred could tear down a millenium of human civilization, and how the animosity overrides humanity, as one lives in a life of suspicion and fear. But his essays also mirrored his personal transition as he moves from capitals and across continents (from his ancestry birthright to rustic Illinois and glamarous New York) and how it has impacted his life. As Bellow goes, each is inspected intellectually.

We have a relief of intellectualism (yet one conceives scatterings of it there) when Bellow writes about his peers and friends, of many whom he had a closed and loving relationship with, whom has in some ways enriched his outlook in life. People like the late Isaac Rosenfeld, late John Berryman, late John Cheever, late Allan Bloom (of Closing of the American Mind’s fame) and William Arrowsmith.

Finally for the closing, we have a reprinted interview between Bostonia and Bellow. Here you would find a repetition of ideas in his earlier writings that are summarized as well as some fresh ideas. Overall, this book is a good read though rather heavy on the mind. Unless you have the stamina, it’s a bit hard to go through the whole book in one sitting. From the anthology here, we could see Bellow’s passion in political observations and the arts. His ideas might cause a dissension in some people for it would seem like denunciations of them. But I would challenge every student worth his or her salt, and the educated public, to give it a try. If the intellectual does not intimidate you, this book is full of delightful story telling of the non-fanciful kind.