Editing Saul Bellow (section)

==Themes and style==
[[File:Saul Bellow.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Bellow by [[Zoran Tucić]]]]
Bellow's themes include the disorientation of contemporary society, and the ability of people to overcome their frailty and achieve greatness or awareness. Bellow saw many flaws in modern civilization, and its ability to foster madness, materialism and misleading knowledge.<ref>Malin, Irving. ''Saul Bellow's Fiction''. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1969</ref> Principal characters in Bellow's fiction have heroic potential, and many times they stand in contrast to the negative forces of society. Often these characters are Jewish and have a sense of alienation or otherness.

Jewish life and identity is a major theme in Bellow's work, although he bristled at being called a "Jewish writer". Bellow's work also shows a great appreciation of America, and a fascination with the uniqueness and vibrancy of the American experience.

Bellow's work abounds in references and quotes from [[Marcel Proust]] and [[Henry James]], among others, but he offsets these high-culture references with jokes.<ref name=NYTobit /> Bellow interspersed autobiographical elements into his fiction, and many of his principal characters were said to bear a resemblance to him.