The Dean's December [Large Print]

After receiving the Nobel Prize in literature, Saul Bellow produced "Dean's December", another extraordinary masterpiece. Probably the most insightful of the wave of novels which appeared in the West after some of the writers managed to travel behind the Iron Curtain, this is the story of Albert Corde, the University Dean and journalist from Chicago, who travels with his Romanian wife, Minna, to Bucharest when Minna's mother, Valeria, is at the hospital in critical condition after a stroke. Dean Corde, as an America in the Communist Romania (annoyingly called Rumania which I believe was common in English several decades ago, although incorrect), is protected by his wife's family, not advised to left the house by himself, and alienated by the language barrier, effectively being left alone, with scarce contacts with Minna's family (despite his strong feelings for them and his will to help). Staying alone in his wife's childhood room at Valeria's apartment, which is occupied also by an elderly aunt, Tanti Gigi, the Dean cannot even read books, being essentially a benevolent prisoner; so he immerses himself in thoughts, disturbing and worrying, his problems remaining unsolved and new problems appearing during this cold December. The professional matters, left in Chicago, mingle with the personal in Bucharest, and each has an element of another in it. Although the narrative is in the third person, it is clear that most of it is told from Albert's point of view and is, essentially, a stream of his thoughts, a monologue (with a phone conversation, a discussion with Minna, or some letters here and there). Albert has left Chicago in the middle of being involved in the trial of the death of one of his students, where the two accused are a pair of black inhabitants of the city - a prostitute and a man whose actions are dubious, but who is a friend of Albert's nephew, Mason. Mason tries to convince Albert that his friend could not kill the student, and uses clever arguments, which - Albert admits to himself - are better than he is able to rebuke. Because the Dean caused some stirrup with his articles (after all, he is not a true academic, as he reminds the reader quite often - he is a journalist) about the structure of the Chicago society, he feels he cannot count on the University authorities and feels a bit lost in the whole affair while he is in Romania. In Bucharest, he tries to be helpful to his wife, who is not permitted to see her mother dying in the hospital for the privileged (as she was both a well-established doctor and married to one, in spite of her leaving the party and being condemned and then rehabilitated, but never fully accepted by the regime, she was allowed this last favor), and summons all the diplomatic help he can get - he negotiates with the Ambassador and meets his childhood friend, Dawey Spangler, now an acclaimed political journalists, who also promises to do anything for help. Valerie's death on Christmas Eve provides an ant

I am a Bellow fan and have read most of his novels. After a while his books become like old friends. This is an excellent novel, but a bit slow and somber. In case you are new to Bellow, his novels reflect his life, his writings, and his five marriages during his five active decades of writing. He hit his peak as a writer around the time of "Augie March" in 1953 and continued through to the Pulitzer novel "Humbolt's Gift" in 1973. He wrote from the early 1940s through to 2000. His novels are written in a narrative form, and the main character is a Jewish male, usually a writer but not always, and he is living in either in New York or Chicago. Bellow wrote approximately 13 novels and other works. The present novel - we can assume - reflects his own personal experiences of travelling to Romania in 1978, to attend the funeral of his mother-in-law, a former minister of health - similar to the story details of the book. Bellow's style progressed a long way as a writer over the five decades. The early novels "Dangling Man" and "The Victim" were written 25 years before his peak. Those were heavy slow reads. "Dangling Man" is often boring, and Bellow was in search of his writing style in that period of the 1940s. Some compare his style in "Dangling Man" with Dostoevsky's "Notes from the Underground." Having read both I would say that "Notes" is brilliant while "Dangling Man" is at best average and sometimes a bit boring. The book is well written and compact and many like that first book, but it was never a big seller. His style changes with time, and the novels became more colorful such as "Augie March" or "Henderson the Rain King," or in fact brilliant as in "Herzog" or expansive and entertaing such as in "Humbolt's Gift." In "Humbolt's Gift" the narrator Charlie Citrine, again a writer, tells us a bit about his philosophy of writing and the need to entertain. Some of these novels have a warmth and charm, and have a certain tongue in cheek approach in describing the trials and tribulations of the narrator. The humour is mixed in with the meaning of life and the future of our souls. Along the way there are a few diversions such as "Mr. Sammler's Planet" where we see a much more serious individual but again there is a bit of humour with the character Sammler. That bring us to the present book, written by an older Bellow, one perhaps a step past his prime. But that did not stop Bellow nor does it detract in any way from the book. In fact, as we see in "Ravelstein" a few decades later, Bellow does not lose his touch, but the novels continue to change and evolve. The present book is serious, almost completely lacking in humour, and there are no side stories about former wives, or criminals, etc. Without giving away the plot - such as it is and it is weak like most Bellow novels - the book has two parallel stories but perhaps just one complicated theme. The parallel stories involve the visit by the narrator, Dean Albert Corde, and his wife Minna to B

The downside of being pugnacious and feisty is that people stop taking you seriously next time you jump into a scrap. This seems to be what happened to this undeservedly neglected book by a great and feisty American writer. Known for bringing artistic beauty, dimensionality, and a golden aura of wisdom to his tough Chicago turf, Bellow here took the gloves off. His University of Chicago Dean hero struggles with injustice and cynicism at its rawest, when he becomes engaged with the cavalier Chicago criminal justice system and its disgustingly casual response to the murder of a student. Counterpoint is meaningfully provided by the death of an old relative behind the iron curtain, whom the Dean visits. As in Lear, the subplot is no relief at all, merely stokes the flames of the main plot and brings Bellow's fury with the modern world to a white heat. Thus we are denied mere sociological or political excuses for our modern mayhem; the focus is what has gone wrong with our hearts the world over. Never has Bellow been more engaged or convincing. Indeed Bellow sacrifices something of his usual high gloss artistic finish to this product in the process, perhaps intentionally and savagely. Yeah, he wants to stick it in your face and it shows. This is doubtless what offends some readers. Nevertheless it is a worthy response to having just received the Nobel Prize. Most writers, American and otherwise, react by self-inflating to sanctimoniously gracious gas bags. Saul knew who he was, however, and never let anyone fool him on that score. I cannot recommend the real life portraiture and painting that shines through this text highly enough. It is entirely genuine, real, perfect, matchlessly true. I frankly know of no better Chicago novel. To be fair, however, I must warn you that the 2 respected readers I know, who read this one cover to cover, were almost viscerally angry afterwards for having done so. Ultimately the experience only underscored to me the difficulties of succeeding in fiction, of making it that real.

This is one of my least favorite Bellow novels. But because it is Bellow it has a lot worth reading in it. His thoughts about society and culture may not always be exactly on the mark, but they usually stimulate and inspire. In this novel the hero is a bit less sympathetic than many of his other main characters. Henderson, Herzog, Humboldt, Sammler , Augie March have vivacity and life that Dean Corde does not. The Dean's wife too falls short of Bellow's livelier and more appealing feminine creations, for instance the Ramona and Madelaine of Herzog. So too the whole spirit of the work has about it a pessimism and bleakness which contrast strongly with that of Augie March, and Henderson, and even in its way, Herzog. This book is really a winter book, and it has coldness and dying in it. And it has the oppression of the Communist Iron Curtain world in Romania, and the depression of Chicago's most beaten and desperate streets. The characters and the story seem less alive than the ideas. Again this is not one of his best. Far from it. But it is Bellow and because of that a worthwhile read.

Having only recently begun reading Bellow I have found him to be an admirable guide to the way contemporary man thinks about the world and particularly human relationships. Although the characters sometimes seem a little too involved in philosophical wool-gathering to be true, their ruminations provide critical insights into the way our society is constructed. In The Dean's December, the contrasts are between the decaying society of late communist Rumania and the problems of society in contemporary Chicago. The Dean is in Rumania to be with his dying mother-in-law, a formerly powerful party official who has been ostracised for allowing her daughter,an internationally famous astronomer, to emigrate to the west.. The Dean, who is a respected journalist has ruffled powerful feathers in Chicago with a series of pointed articles critical of certain aspects of Chicago society and has also been involved in seeking justice in a case where one of ! his students has been murdered. In this he is opposed by his radical nephew who thinks that the case is racist because the accused are African Americans of deprived social origins. Bellow is a master of setting the scene - the bleak December weather echoes the coldness of communist and capitalist society, the cheerless bureaucracies and intricate politics of both settings. As well as societies problems, the Dean must also confront his own mortality as he watches his beloved mother-in-law die and the reactions of his wife and slightly eccentric relatives to this stress. This is a book which will repay several readings. Highly recommended.