Volume 34, Number 12 · July 16, 1987
Trachtenberg the Brain King
By Alfred Kazin
More Die Of Heartbreak
by Saul Bellow
William Morrow, 335 pp., $17.95
The city in Saul Bellow's new novel is a Midwest power center that is clearly Chicago but not named. Benn Crader, a peaceful, contemplative, eminent botanist, something of a 'plant mystic,' unaccountably finds himself married to the overpoweringly handsome, rich, socially ambitious Matilda Layamon. She is at least twenty years his junior and a most unsuitable wife for a solitary scientist with a special interest in Arctic lichens. Although Benn admires her good looks in an obligatory way, lust for her is hardly the top thing on his mind. And oddly enough her massively wide shoulders and her breasts too widely separated stir up so much repugnance in this studious fellow that he is afraid of attacking her in his sleep.
Review, 2174 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |