Personal as Political: Love and Memory in Saul Bellow’s Ravelstein

Abstract

Saul Bellow’s Ravelstein is a story of Jewish protagonist Ravelstein, whose journey from the simple life to the highly materialistic life represents the change in the lives of Jews in Post World War II America. Living with a fear of extinction a fear that recurs in Jewish history from the Biblical stories to holocaust and to the threats to Israel, the Jewish Americans like Ravelstein and Chick realize that living highly materialistic life is yet another threat that can destroy the Jewish lifestyle, values and racial identity. For these characters, friendship, Love and personal as well as historical memory seem to be the only way out for the survival. Thus, the protagonist’s personal history at the same time becomes political history.