"I don't know for what reason I appeared on the face of the earth. All I know is that it was a marvelous and exhilarating experience, that to exist itself is a glorious thing."
I admire Saul Bellow very much. He brought me to tears, his complexity, his deep humanity, his intellect is very compelling. I got his books in german translation from my father from east germany. Greetings into our big world, with all of our differences and our similarities from Leipzig, Germany!
This interview took place in Lugano, Switzerland on October 29, 1987. It was broadcast as an episode of the "Carta bianca" talk show, hosted by Matteo Bellinelli on RTSI (Swiss Italian public broadcasting service).
For anyone wondering what Bellow says to Mitterrand in the anecdote at 41:47, it's "Vaut mieux être décoré que pendu," or, "Better to have a medal around your neck than a noose."
I'm re-reading "Humboldt's Gift" now, and find it flat-out funny. When he says (early) in this interview that he "invented" a sort of sentence, I can see that on the pages of Humboldt. Highly used and regularly repeated today, the sentence is substantial in imagery while continuing the story.
@@richardjames5147 It's a COMMON diagnosis of today's woke mentality. Any conservative political pundit has been saying this for years. Non-pundits have been saying it too. I guess you guys have low standards, or, you just aren't exposed to conservative media, or, have few conservative friends.
@@richardjames5147 Yeah, you didn't say "common now but brilliant for 35 years ago", so clearly you were very impressed with a commonplace insight. But, that said, I disagree with you --- people knew this view 35 years ago.
To hear or read Bellow is almost the same pleasure, funny and wise things together. “...I don’t like to apply labels to myself...” Great answer for common question. I think that interviewer learned a lot... and we too.
Bellows, Sinclair, Adler, Philip Roth, Heller, Hawthorne, Poe, James, The Bible, etc...these will expand your brain tremendously about life, love and how to enjoy it.
Humboldt's Gift is so beautiful and funny, I keep it as close to as I do any other novel. Bellow was an artist and a mensch. Thank you for uploading this!
I've read all of Bellow, and there are some of his novels and short stories collections (Him With His Foot in His Mouth for instance, pure gold) that I'm always happy to re-read, but for me Humboldt's Gift is the one.
In minute 5,55 the interviewer asks if he is not bothered with the critics according to wich Mr. Bellow didn`t write anything as good as Herzog, 23 years ago. Herzong was written in 1964, so the interview took place in 1987
I thoroughly enjoyed reading his books in high school, then again in college and still today pick one up and love to read any of his works. I encourage every youngster to read at least one of his books, esp Augie March. He is a very American writer imo.
I recommend the UK Everyman edition of Augie March for the excellent introduction by Christopher Hitchens, where he makes a convincing case for that book being THE great American novel. Plus like all the Everyman series it's beautifully produced.
Saul Bellow é um homem de classe e muita cultura.seus livros são indispensáveis para conhecer um pouco da literatura do pós guerra nos estados unidos.O planeta do Sr. Sammler ou O Legado De Humboldt,por exemplo.
"It is hard work, and great art, to make life, not so serious." -John Irving. Considering Mr Bellow's comments, it is often the case that arrogance and indifference are masking feelings of depression which would otherwise be seen as weakness and this, especially in America is not tolerated.
6:40 Oh, he did remind me of Gore Vidal " It's a horse race, you never know which horse is going to win" Even his voice is similar, and his manner is very patrician. Very enjoyable interview.
That is exactly the right term Mr Riley. This penchant for isms and ists . Every intellectual with his or her new brand of the same old discredited smelly orthodoxies as George Orwell puts it.
@John Riley: Agreed - the high style suddenly undercut by gleeful low comedy when things are getting too lofty and abstract. Part of the joy of reading Herzog, Mr Sammler's Planet, Humboldt's Gift et al.
"Washed, clean and dressed in expensive garments. Under the roof is insulation; on the windows thermopane; on the floors carpeting; and on the carpets furniture, and on the furniture covers, and on the cloth covers plastic covers; and wallpaper and drapes! All is swept and garnished. And who is in the midst of this? Who is sitting there? Man! That's who it is, man!" from Henderson The Rain King
Brilliant answers from Bellow even though it's obvious that the interviewer comprehends little of what Bellow is saying. His primary concern, as an interviewer, is to ask the next question. I guess it's okay, however, since he does let Bellow speak freely and he doesn't intrude his own opinions.
This must be close to Bellow's death. Good question though, where and who interviewed Bellow. Ravelstein, one of my favourites, I guess was not yet written. Bellow was born in Montreal, like Mordecai |Richler. Bellow looks abit like Pierre Trudeau.
This interview seems to be centered around "More Die of Heartbreak," which Bellow published in 1987. It can be safely assumed that Bellow is on this talk show to promote that book, so it can therefore be surmised that this interview is from 1987. The set and Bellow's appearance (he was 72 that year) seem to correspond to that era. So if this is from 1987, it is not close to Bellow's death: he had another 18 years to live.
Bellow mentions that when he was eight he spent a long period in a hospital due to an illness and nearly died. And yet the interviewer doesn’t ask what nearly killed him. I had to go to Wikipedia to find out it was some sort of respiratory infection. The interviewer didn’t have to spend an inordinate amount of time discussing it, but he should at least have asked. That’s his job. Other than that I thought it was very interesting. Where was this interview done?
We fall into intellectual traps too easily almost all the time whereas we neglect the essential canons that lasts thousand years. Answer is clear. - NYC, 100/25/2019
Which book(s) would you Bellow enthusiasts recommend as an introduction? My teenage son hasn't yet read any of Bellow's work; I fear Herzog might be a bit...overwhelming. Thank you in advance, my fellow bibliophiles!
Although it’s possibly his longest, The Adventures of Augie March is my first choice. It is my ATF novel-the one I return to and re-read almost every year. I’m currently re-reading Herzog (2nd choice), and it has much more serious, mature themes as one would expect with Bellow being older. I didn’t care much for either Henderson the Rain King or Seize the Day finding them overwrought with modernist symbolism and Freudian psychology, respectively. Humboldt’s Gift (3rd choice) is very underrated as it recaptures some of the same lightning with which Augie thunders.
He sounds very interesting; this is a great interview, but I wasn't too impressed with Seize the Day or Ravelstein. Perhaps I should try some of his thicker works.
20:13 Any interviewer with half a brain or any instincts would have asked when this change took place? Its dropping the ball like that that exposes this dude as a cardboard cutout just reading questions one by one. Nobody told this stiff about the art of conversation I guess. Sheeeeeeesh.
He was an extremely good-looking man when young : a Hollywood talent scout encouraged him to go to Hollywood, but he never did. He was also something of a womaniser. Read his biography.
Bellow once wrote "George Orwell was a sick counter-revolutionary and it's a good job he died when he did" Regardless of whether one likes Orwell's writing that is a horrible thing to say about any human being. And it's rich coming from a man like Bellow who was a big fan of Ronald Reagan.
This interviewer,,,,,,,, Not a happy camper. He is more a veiled critique than one who has a clue. Bellows holds his ground yet is a bit put off by this guys presumptuousness .
"Nature may fall apart but there is nothing mankind can do about that" How about living a vegan lifestyle, Bellow? Einstein realized the transition to a meatless diet was our only hope of saving this planet. Bellow speaks with great assuredness on that matter - yet knows nothing.
"I don't know for what reason I appeared on the face of the earth. All I know is that it was a marvelous and exhilarating experience, that to exist itself is a glorious thing."
Well... It depends. Let's say that it's easier when you're a Bellow.
I admire Saul Bellow very much. He brought me to tears, his complexity, his deep humanity, his intellect is very compelling. I got his books in german translation from my father from east germany. Greetings into our big world, with all of our differences and our similarities from Leipzig, Germany!
Agreed
This interview took place in Lugano, Switzerland on October 29, 1987.
It was broadcast as an episode of the "Carta bianca" talk show, hosted by Matteo Bellinelli on RTSI (Swiss Italian public broadcasting service).
End credit indicates a copyright of 1994.
maybe '94 on a U.S./international rebroadcast?
I thought this was taped back sometime in the 70's...
I've watched this countless times. Great interview filled with gems
Me too. Mr Bellow spoke a lot about jokes, but he never mentioned that a joke is an assertion of superiority.
For anyone wondering what Bellow says to Mitterrand in the anecdote at 41:47, it's "Vaut mieux être décoré que pendu," or, "Better to have a medal around your neck than a noose."
Thanks, I was wondering about that!
@@Dewingo You're welcome!
Thanks!
No wonder Mitterrand didn’t reply, he probably blanched & thought of René Bousquet & Vichy collaboration.
Literally "Better to be decorated than hanged" Vaut mieux être décoré que pendu
One of the best interviews i watched on UA-cam.....
They don't make em like this anymore. The great post-war writers, including Bellow, Roth and Mailer, are in a class of their own.
I'm re-reading "Humboldt's Gift" now, and find it flat-out funny. When he says (early) in this interview that he "invented" a sort of sentence, I can see that on the pages of Humboldt. Highly used and regularly repeated today, the sentence is substantial in imagery while continuing the story.
Thanks for the upload. What a writer, what a man, what a mensch!
Amen.
"They have attitudes, that doesn't mean they know what is happening..." Brilliant.
I'm really not seeing brilliance in that statement. It's pretty pedestrian.
@@HomeAtLast501 that statement is a brilliant diagnosis of today's woke mentality.
@@richardjames5147 It's a COMMON diagnosis of today's woke mentality. Any conservative political pundit has been saying this for years. Non-pundits have been saying it too. I guess you guys have low standards, or, you just aren't exposed to conservative media, or, have few conservative friends.
@@HomeAtLast501 common now, Bellow however has been dead for 16 years & this interview is from 35 years ago or more.
@@richardjames5147 Yeah, you didn't say "common now but brilliant for 35 years ago", so clearly you were very impressed with a commonplace insight. But, that said, I disagree with you --- people knew this view 35 years ago.
Good to watch late Saul Bellow for the first time...thanks for sharing.
What a fantastic interviewer. Superb. Huge congrats for this. The best interviewer I have ever seen❤
To hear or read Bellow is almost the same pleasure, funny and wise things together.
“...I don’t like to apply labels to myself...” Great answer for common question. I think that interviewer learned a lot... and we too.
Love this... Applause! Great Wisdom.
If you are not in awe of Bellow's intellect you are not awake.
gap378 shut the fuck up
gap378 lot of depth in Thinking!! Does anybody think so much these days 🤔
yes, he was a giant
at 12:30 "their only reply to this is to call me a conservative, my reply to them is to say that they are de... " what? sounds French.
Bellows, Sinclair, Adler, Philip Roth, Heller, Hawthorne, Poe, James, The Bible, etc...these will expand your brain tremendously about life, love and how to enjoy it.
The artist as described by Bellow at 17:21 Quite amazing how he communicates thoughts like this spontaneously (apparently).
Great! Saul Bellow is pure class. Thank you mr. Cereal.
Humboldt's Gift is so beautiful and funny, I keep it as close to as I do any other novel. Bellow was an artist and a mensch. Thank you for uploading this!
Yes. I've read it many times and it's my favorite among his works.
I've read all of Bellow, and there are some of his novels and short stories collections (Him With His Foot in His Mouth for instance, pure gold) that I'm always happy to re-read, but for me Humboldt's Gift is the one.
Herzog was a great read, funny and sad in equal measure.
In minute 5,55 the interviewer asks if he is not bothered with the critics according to wich Mr. Bellow didn`t write anything as good as Herzog, 23 years ago. Herzong was written in 1964, so the interview took place in 1987
Saul Bellow has made THIS woman exceedingly happy!
Unhand me, madam !
Thanks for posting.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading his books in high school, then again in college and still today pick one up and love to read any of his works. I encourage every youngster to read at least one of his books, esp Augie March. He is a very American writer imo.
I recommend the UK Everyman edition of Augie March for the excellent introduction by Christopher Hitchens, where he makes a convincing case for that book being THE great American novel. Plus like all the Everyman series it's beautifully produced.
Saul Bellow é um homem de classe e muita cultura.seus livros são indispensáveis para conhecer um pouco da literatura do pós guerra nos estados unidos.O planeta do Sr. Sammler ou O Legado De Humboldt,por exemplo.
Wonderful interview.
very surprised to hear Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence as the closing song. pleasantly surprised!
Great nuggets in the last half
the self-aware camera work is kind of hilarious. i dig.
I ❤ this conversation
Uncle Saul, I am surprised you never said , A joke is an assertion of superiority.
"It is hard work, and great art, to make life, not so serious." -John Irving. Considering Mr Bellow's comments, it is often the case that arrogance and indifference are masking feelings of depression which would otherwise be seen as weakness and this, especially in America is not tolerated.
6:40 Oh, he did remind me of Gore Vidal
" It's a horse race, you never know which horse is going to win"
Even his voice is similar, and his manner is very patrician.
Very enjoyable interview.
Interesting guy. Yes, what an intellect!
The end credit indicates a copyright of MCMXCIV. 1994. That seems right. Bellow was 79.
i admire bellow's anti-formalism, if that is the right term. his high regard for humor as safeguard against intellectual cant, delusion, pretense.
That is exactly the right term Mr Riley. This penchant for isms and ists . Every intellectual with his or her new brand of the same old discredited smelly orthodoxies as George Orwell puts it.
@John Riley: Agreed - the high style suddenly undercut by gleeful low comedy when things are getting too lofty and abstract. Part of the joy of reading Herzog, Mr Sammler's Planet, Humboldt's Gift et al.
Check out Robin Williams in the film version of Seize the Day. In one scene, Bellow walks by with a smirk on his face.
"Washed, clean and dressed in expensive garments. Under the roof is insulation; on the windows thermopane; on the floors carpeting; and on the carpets furniture, and on the furniture covers, and on the cloth covers plastic covers; and wallpaper and drapes! All is swept and garnished. And who is in the midst of this? Who is sitting there? Man! That's who it is, man!"
from Henderson The Rain King
This man won 3 National Book Awards, a Nobel, and a Pulitzer.
*slow clap*
such insight, and (a rare privilege) memorable in its measure.
Brilliant answers from Bellow even though it's obvious that the interviewer comprehends little of what Bellow is saying. His primary concern, as an interviewer, is to ask the next question. I guess it's okay, however, since he does let Bellow speak freely and he doesn't intrude his own opinions.
Love Saul Bellow
Does anyone know the foreign word he uses right after 44:50?
ending music: merry christmas mr. lawrence :)
The questions asked are terrible, the answers given are quite good and true.
That’s the bits I like.
Learned, measured - not a blowhard. "Jokes tell the truth without you're even knowing it" - I agree!
Herzog is the same name of the Mountainer who climbed Mt Annapurna very fisrt time in 50's
MAURICE HERZOG....
what year?
It is truly an amazing interview
holy smoke.bellow is smart
He's a pigeon
Joe Delilo12:15
Word!
Can you tell us more about this video? When/where was it taken?
This must be close to Bellow's death. Good question though, where and
who interviewed Bellow.
Ravelstein, one of my favourites, I guess was not yet written.
Bellow was born in Montreal, like Mordecai |Richler. Bellow looks
abit like Pierre Trudeau.
Mid to late 1980s. He was still going strong. They mentioned Herzog as 23 years old.
So many intriguing comments from Bellow are left at that, not followed up on by this interviewer. A shame.
Observing Bellow really lifts Ravelstein off the pages.
the Great Moses!!!!!!
This interview seems to be centered around "More Die of Heartbreak," which Bellow published in 1987. It can be safely assumed that Bellow is on this talk show to promote that book, so it can therefore be surmised that this interview is from 1987. The set and Bellow's appearance (he was 72 that year) seem to correspond to that era. So if this is from 1987, it is not close to Bellow's death: he had another 18 years to live.
It seems centered on Herzog, if anything; though naturally, this is unhelpful for dating the interview.
62, not 72. It cant be 1987.
Bellow mentions that when he was eight he spent a long period in a hospital due to an illness and nearly died.
And yet the interviewer doesn’t ask what nearly killed him.
I had to go to Wikipedia to find out it was some sort of respiratory infection.
The interviewer didn’t have to spend an inordinate amount of time discussing it, but he should at least have asked.
That’s his job.
Other than that I thought it was very interesting.
Where was this interview done?
We fall into intellectual traps too easily almost all the time whereas we neglect the essential canons that lasts thousand years. Answer is clear. - NYC, 100/25/2019
Utterly transcendent
from 30 minutes on he rocks the house. I wish, as I have for many years, to be an interviewer. C'mon, mofos. Act like you're involved.
Which book(s) would you Bellow enthusiasts recommend as an introduction? My teenage son hasn't yet read any of Bellow's work; I fear Herzog might be a bit...overwhelming. Thank you in advance, my fellow bibliophiles!
Although it’s possibly his longest, The Adventures of Augie March is my first choice. It is my ATF novel-the one I return to and re-read almost every year. I’m currently re-reading Herzog (2nd choice), and it has much more serious, mature themes as one would expect with Bellow being older. I didn’t care much for either Henderson the Rain King or Seize the Day finding them overwrought with modernist symbolism and Freudian psychology, respectively. Humboldt’s Gift (3rd choice) is very underrated as it recaptures some of the same lightning with which Augie thunders.
He might be a bit too young to read Bellow. But if he must, Dangling Man is the most accessible probably. It's good, straightforward, not dense.
Herzog was read by many people as being a serious book. The book was a joke.
The best jokes are serious.
I think you're taking it too seriously
He sounds very interesting; this is a great interview, but I wasn't too impressed with Seize the Day or Ravelstein. Perhaps I should try some of his thicker works.
Try Herzog, I strongly recommend. - NYC, 10/25/2019
And Humboldt's Gift. After which you might appreciate Ravelstein more - a brilliant swan-song.
That tremendous influence of the Old Testament on the mind of a budding writer is not gone, Saul. It's still here. Myself, a few others.
What is he saying in french around 10:20?
pratico-pratique/ meaning practicing or practical i think(?)
thank you very much for answering my question. do you happen to know the meaning of the french or latin word he uses around 12:30?@@Arareemote
Yep! The other French word is détraqué, in this context I think he means "upset"
This sounds too much like something I would see on pbs in 1997, but still nice despite the vaseline lotion Mr. Rogers filter.
'I think Herzog is out of his mind'. Lol....
He (i.e., Bellow) used the word provisional at least three times in this interview.
And you counted. 🤦
@@mortalclown3812 People who don't count won't count. -- Anatole France
That's Buster Keaton.
34:50 WOW.
20:13 Any interviewer with half a brain or any instincts would have asked when this change took place? Its dropping the ball like that that exposes this dude as a cardboard cutout just reading questions one by one. Nobody told this stiff about the art of conversation I guess. Sheeeeeeesh.
I think he could have made a good Actor. Did he ever play in a Movie?
No, but he helped write the film adaptation for his novel “Seize the Day,” which started Robin Williams and was released in 1986.
@Mar Estel: Gore Vidal snapped up all the available roles.
He was an extremely good-looking man when young : a Hollywood talent scout encouraged him to go to Hollywood, but he never did. He was also something of a womaniser. Read his biography.
Bellow once wrote "George Orwell was a sick counter-revolutionary and it's a good job he died when he did" Regardless of whether one likes Orwell's writing that is a horrible thing to say about any human being. And it's rich coming from a man like Bellow who was a big fan of Ronald Reagan.
Sounds very un-Bellow. Can you give a source?
Augie March first, Herzog, maybe second
+jesuisravi funny. i consider herzog by far the greatest.
I am going to reread Augie one of these days, then I will come back to reply.
jesuisravi for me Humboldt has the headiest synthesis of high brow and low brow, which is what energises us so about Bellow.
@Thomas Pynchon Einhorn.
@Thomas Pynchon so far so good, thank you
He's 72 here.
17:40
Bellow resembles more Pierre Trudeau than Buster Keaton.
Almost a type of American that simply doesn't exist anymore
Interesting. Shame the interviewer was not better.
This interview is just too frantic for me to handle.
Brilliant old man looking to put a load of wisdom down for a while. Didn't see the frantic in it.
very cool story hansel
To bad Saul had to suffer this boob.
What would Bellow have to say about current technology? Utterly dystopian...
If the job of writers be to edify and educate, make civilized, US writers have not been very successful; perhaps they have been a failure.
I'm reading Herzog and I think that the main character is unbearable!!!now I know why...
herzogs head is full of things which are of little use to him.
The interviewer is asking stupid American questions, and Mr. Bellow is answering consumately…..
Alot of interviews with authors are just bullshit, they babble on, assert vague platitudes, its just bullshit.
This interviewer,,,,,,,, Not a happy camper. He is more a veiled critique than one who has a clue. Bellows holds his ground yet is a bit put off by this guys presumptuousness .
great writer. Mediocre interviewer
Disagree. He's asks gentle yet piercing questions.
"Nature may fall apart but there is nothing mankind can do about that"
How about living a vegan lifestyle, Bellow? Einstein realized the transition to a meatless diet was our only hope of saving this planet. Bellow speaks with great assuredness on that matter - yet knows nothing.
"You are not paying attention again little Johnny".
There was plenty humankind could have done, more than just going vegan, but it's almost too late now.
The interviewer is crude and unprofessional.
all jerk, all the time
I'm reading Herzog and I think that the main character is unbearable!!!now I know why...