Saul Bellow Interview

Рет қаралды 122,395

10 жыл бұрын

Пікірлер: 164

@paulfesta6415 7 жыл бұрын

"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."

@crucifytheego100 Жыл бұрын

Well... It depends. Let's say that it's easier when you're a Bellow.

@joshuadepenbrock7913 Жыл бұрын

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!

@andrewharty3874 2 ай бұрын

Agreed

@goodmorningsteve 9 жыл бұрын

I've watched this countless times. Great interview filled with gems

@anthonyperry7296 6 жыл бұрын

Me too. Mr Bellow spoke a lot about jokes, but he never mentioned that a joke is an assertion of superiority.

@kamalpreetsingh1686 4 жыл бұрын

One of the best interviews i watched on KZfaq.....

@matthewjamesappleby5834 3 жыл бұрын

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."

@Dewingo 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks, I was wondering about that!

@matthewjamesappleby5834 3 жыл бұрын

@@Dewingo You're welcome!

@otum337 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

@richardsykes9692 2 жыл бұрын

No wonder Mitterrand didn’t reply, he probably blanched & thought of René Bousquet & Vichy collaboration.

@andresbucio3819 Жыл бұрын

Literally "Better to be decorated than hanged" Vaut mieux être décoré que pendu

@Keithlfpieterse 8 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the upload. What a writer, what a man, what a mensch!

@mortalclown3812 3 жыл бұрын

Amen.

@markbeyerauthor 8 жыл бұрын

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.

@williamf.buckleyjr.1572 6 жыл бұрын

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.

@vicchinav 9 жыл бұрын

Good to watch late Saul Bellow for the first time...thanks for sharing.

@stevehornshaw4478 6 ай бұрын

What a fantastic interviewer. Superb. Huge congrats for this. The best interviewer I have ever seen❤

@svporqueno 5 жыл бұрын

"They have attitudes, that doesn't mean they know what is happening..." Brilliant.

@HomeAtLast501 3 жыл бұрын

I'm really not seeing brilliance in that statement. It's pretty pedestrian.

@richardjames5147 3 жыл бұрын

@@HomeAtLast501 that statement is a brilliant diagnosis of today's woke mentality.

@HomeAtLast501 3 жыл бұрын

@@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 3 жыл бұрын

@@HomeAtLast501 common now, Bellow however has been dead for 16 years & this interview is from 35 years ago or more.

@HomeAtLast501 3 жыл бұрын

@@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.

@carlosmoura2105 4 жыл бұрын

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.

@PoetryETrain 4 жыл бұрын

Love this... Applause! Great Wisdom.

@LISTAS.DIVERSAS 10 жыл бұрын

Great! Saul Bellow is pure class. Thank you mr. Cereal.

@michaeldoyle6702 4 жыл бұрын

The artist as described by Bellow at 17:21 Quite amazing how he communicates thoughts like this spontaneously (apparently).

@lezleythurman1365 2 жыл бұрын

Saul Bellow has made THIS woman exceedingly happy!

@arrystophanes7909 Жыл бұрын

Unhand me, madam !

@phil7222 11 ай бұрын

Thanks for posting.

@bicrehan 4 жыл бұрын

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!

@JohnPaul-le4pf 4 жыл бұрын

Yes. I've read it many times and it's my favorite among his works.

@nickwyatt9498 2 жыл бұрын

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.

@publicme 9 жыл бұрын

Wonderful interview.

@gregoryberrycone 4 жыл бұрын

Herzog was a great read, funny and sad in equal measure.

@zygmuntpc 9 жыл бұрын

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

@tiagobernadac6005 4 жыл бұрын

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.

@dealstogo2649 4 жыл бұрын

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.

@nickwyatt9498 2 жыл бұрын

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.

@samferguson4628 7 жыл бұрын

the self-aware camera work is kind of hilarious. i dig.

@gap378 8 жыл бұрын

If you are not in awe of Bellow's intellect you are not awake.

@joedelilo5608 7 жыл бұрын

gap378 shut the fuck up

@veenabalaji583 6 жыл бұрын

gap378 lot of depth in Thinking!! Does anybody think so much these days 🤔

@RileyRampant 5 жыл бұрын

yes, he was a giant

@matthewmorgan9269 5 жыл бұрын

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.

@dealstogo2649 4 жыл бұрын

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.

@TheZurul 10 жыл бұрын

very surprised to hear Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence as the closing song. pleasantly surprised!

@gorgedraener1030 9 жыл бұрын

Great nuggets in the last half

@anthonyperry7296 6 жыл бұрын

Uncle Saul, I am surprised you never said , A joke is an assertion of superiority.

@MrSinghSAmit 8 ай бұрын

I ❤ this conversation

@jeffreyc.mcandrew8911 7 жыл бұрын

Interesting guy. Yes, what an intellect!

@michaeldoyle6702 4 жыл бұрын

The end credit indicates a copyright of MCMXCIV. 1994. That seems right. Bellow was 79.

@blackbird5634 3 жыл бұрын

"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.

@mirandac8712 3 жыл бұрын

It is truly an amazing interview

@jimr513666 Жыл бұрын

Love Saul Bellow

@jkfree8741 Жыл бұрын

Check out Robin Williams in the film version of Seize the Day. In one scene, Bellow walks by with a smirk on his face.

@jonathangriffiths8213 10 жыл бұрын

such insight, and (a rare privilege) memorable in its measure.

@Thompsdan 7 ай бұрын

That’s the bits I like.

@marcperez1134 8 жыл бұрын

ending music: merry christmas mr. lawrence :)

@JackSaturday 7 жыл бұрын

"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

@RileyRampant 8 жыл бұрын

i admire bellow's anti-formalism, if that is the right term. his high regard for humor as safeguard against intellectual cant, delusion, pretense.

@josephbailey4249 4 жыл бұрын

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.

@nickwyatt9498 2 жыл бұрын

@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.

@hifellowhumans8393 4 жыл бұрын

This man won 3 National Book Awards, a Nobel, and a Pulitzer. *slow clap*

@garynied1603 4 жыл бұрын

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.

@vinm300 3 жыл бұрын

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.

@krishnathapa177 2 жыл бұрын

Herzog is the same name of the Mountainer who climbed Mt Annapurna very fisrt time in 50's MAURICE HERZOG....

@chasecrucil4921 9 ай бұрын

Does anyone know the foreign word he uses right after 44:50?

@danielhoneywell8292 3 жыл бұрын

The questions asked are terrible, the answers given are quite good and true.

@jacqulinemartins9371 7 жыл бұрын

Learned, measured - not a blowhard. "Jokes tell the truth without you're even knowing it" - I agree!

@reaganwiles_art 5 жыл бұрын

what year?

@catherinezetareticuli9003 9 жыл бұрын

holy smoke.bellow is smart

@joedelilo5608 7 жыл бұрын

He's a pigeon

@user-un6sb4kn2z 6 жыл бұрын

Joe Delilo12:15

@KitCalder 3 жыл бұрын

Utterly transcendent

@javierquintero160 8 жыл бұрын

the Great Moses!!!!!!

@charleswinokoor6023 2 жыл бұрын

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?

@PoetryETrain 4 жыл бұрын

Word!

@michaeldoyle6702 4 жыл бұрын

So many intriguing comments from Bellow are left at that, not followed up on by this interviewer. A shame.

@1mropz1 2 жыл бұрын

Observing Bellow really lifts Ravelstein off the pages.

@danielalt10 10 жыл бұрын

Can you tell us more about this video? When/where was it taken?

@michaeldoyle6702 10 жыл бұрын

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.

@PeppyOoze 9 жыл бұрын

Mid to late 1980s. He was still going strong. They mentioned Herzog as 23 years old.

@brucejackson6451 10 жыл бұрын

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.

@Allen1029 9 жыл бұрын

It seems centered on Herzog, if anything; though naturally, this is unhelpful for dating the interview.

@michaeldoyle6702 4 жыл бұрын

62, not 72. It cant be 1987.

@namenamename6 3 жыл бұрын

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.

@Johnconno 5 ай бұрын

That's Buster Keaton.

@MrTravelWriter 8 жыл бұрын

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.

@noabaak 4 жыл бұрын

Try Herzog, I strongly recommend. - NYC, 10/25/2019

@nickwyatt9498 2 жыл бұрын

And Humboldt's Gift. After which you might appreciate Ravelstein more - a brilliant swan-song.

@noabaak 4 жыл бұрын

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

@drbonesshow1 4 жыл бұрын

He (i.e., Bellow) used the word provisional at least three times in this interview.

@mortalclown3812 3 жыл бұрын

And you counted. 🤦

@drbonesshow1 3 жыл бұрын

@@mortalclown3812 People who don't count won't count. -- Anatole France

@rrbaggett7 5 жыл бұрын

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!

@kevinjones8488 4 жыл бұрын

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.

@gopalmarar 2 жыл бұрын

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.

@marclayne9261 4 ай бұрын

'I think Herzog is out of his mind'. Lol....

@santafewilly 8 жыл бұрын

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.

@namenamename6 3 жыл бұрын

34:50 WOW.

@chasecrucil4921 9 ай бұрын

What is he saying in french around 10:20?

@Arareemote 9 ай бұрын

pratico-pratique/ meaning practicing or practical i think(?)

@chasecrucil4921 9 ай бұрын

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

@Arareemote 9 ай бұрын

Yep! The other French word is détraqué, in this context I think he means "upset"

@anthonyperry7296 6 жыл бұрын

Herzog was read by many people as being a serious book. The book was a joke.

@JohnPaul-le4pf 4 жыл бұрын

The best jokes are serious.

@KitCalder 3 жыл бұрын

I think you're taking it too seriously

@josephyoung6749 5 жыл бұрын

This sounds too much like something I would see on pbs in 1997, but still nice despite the vaseline lotion Mr. Rogers filter.

@mirandac8712 3 жыл бұрын

He's 72 here.

@marestel3094 5 жыл бұрын

I think he could have made a good Actor. Did he ever play in a Movie?

@nb5437 3 жыл бұрын

No, but he helped write the film adaptation for his novel “Seize the Day,” which started Robin Williams and was released in 1986.

@nickwyatt9498 2 жыл бұрын

@Mar Estel: Gore Vidal snapped up all the available roles.

@markhasleton6403 4 ай бұрын

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.

@thedativecase9733 2 жыл бұрын

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.

@nickwyatt9498 2 жыл бұрын

Sounds very un-Bellow. Can you give a source?

@namenamename6 3 жыл бұрын

17:40

@jesuisravi 8 жыл бұрын

Augie March first, Herzog, maybe second

@RileyRampant 8 жыл бұрын

+jesuisravi funny. i consider herzog by far the greatest.

@jesuisravi 8 жыл бұрын

I am going to reread Augie one of these days, then I will come back to reply.

@wystanisles4094 6 жыл бұрын

jesuisravi for me Humboldt has the headiest synthesis of high brow and low brow, which is what energises us so about Bellow.

@jesuisravi 4 жыл бұрын

@Thomas Pynchon Einhorn.

@jesuisravi 4 жыл бұрын

@Thomas Pynchon so far so good, thank you

@frankandstern8803 3 жыл бұрын

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.

@michaeldoyle6702 4 жыл бұрын

Bellow resembles more Pierre Trudeau than Buster Keaton.

@number94 10 жыл бұрын

Interesting. Shame the interviewer was not better.

@chadm9192 Жыл бұрын

Almost a type of American that simply doesn't exist anymore

@ficciones2401 Жыл бұрын

What would Bellow have to say about current technology? Utterly dystopian...

@MetFansince 4 жыл бұрын

This interview is just too frantic for me to handle.

@mortalclown3812 3 жыл бұрын

Brilliant old man looking to put a load of wisdom down for a while. Didn't see the frantic in it.

@stevennewman5442 3 жыл бұрын

very cool story hansel

@danfriend9567 5 жыл бұрын

To bad Saul had to suffer this boob.

@oldsachem Жыл бұрын

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.

@folkardheimeirick2834 8 жыл бұрын

I'm reading Herzog and I think that the main character is unbearable!!!now I know why...

@anthonyperry7296 6 жыл бұрын

herzogs head is full of things which are of little use to him.

@jennyhirschowitz1999 2 жыл бұрын

The interviewer is asking stupid American questions, and Mr. Bellow is answering consumately…..

@johnnythunder196 7 жыл бұрын

"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.

@charlespeterson3798 6 жыл бұрын

"You are not paying attention again little Johnny".

@JohnPaul-le4pf 4 жыл бұрын

There was plenty humankind could have done, more than just going vegan, but it's almost too late now.

@frankandstern8803 3 жыл бұрын

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 .