There Is Simply Too Much to Think Abo..., Saul Bellow
There Is Simply Too Much to Think Abo..., Saul Bellow
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There Is Simply Too Much to Think About
Collected Nonfiction

Author: Saul Bellow, Benjamin Taylor

Narrator: Malcolm Hillgartner

Unabridged: 20 hr 29 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/31/2015


Synopsis

A sweeping collection and a tribute to one of the most influential, daring, and visionary minds of the twentieth centuryThe year 2015 marks several literary milestones: the centennial of Saul Bellow's birth, the tenth anniversary of his death, and the publication of Zachary Leader's much anticipated biography. Bellow—a Nobel laureate, Pulitzer Prize winner, and the only novelist to receive three National Book Awards—has long been regarded as one of America's most cherished authors. Here, Benjamin Taylor, editor of the acclaimed Saul Bellow: Letters, presents lesser-known aspects of the iconic writer.Arranged chronologically, this literary time capsule displays the full extent of Bellow's nonfiction, including criticism, interviews, speeches, and other reflections, tracing his career from his initial success as a novelist until the end of his life. Bringing together six classic pieces with an abundance of previously uncollected material, There Is Simply Too Much to Think About is a powerful reminder not only of Bellow's genius but also of his enduring place in the Western canon, and it is sure to be widely reviewed and talked about for years to come.

About Saul Bellow

Saul Bellow (1915–2005), author of numerous novels, novellas, and stories, was the only novelist to receive three National Book Awards. He also received the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize in Literature, the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Fiction. During the 1967 Arab-Israeli conflict, Bellow served as a war correspondent for Newsday. He taught at New York University, Princeton, and the University of Minnesota and was chairman of the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago.

About Benjamin Taylor

Benjamin Taylor received a 2021 Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His memoir, The Hue and Cry at Our House: A Year Remembered, received the 2017 Los Angeles Times-Christopher Isherwood Prize and was named a New York Times Editors’ Choice. His Proust: The Search was named a Best Book of 2015 by the New York Times Book Review and The Observer (London). He is a past fellow and current trustee of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and serves as president of the Edward F. Albee Foundation.

About Malcolm Hillgartner

Malcolm Hillgartner is an accomplished actor, writer, and musician. Named an AudioFile Best Voice of 2013 and the recipient of several Earphones Awards, he has narrated over 250 audiobooks.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Domenico Fina on December 20, 2017

Ci sono troppe cose a cui pensare. È un’impresa disperata: le tipologie di preparazione specifica richieste sono infinite. In fatto di elettronica, economia, analisi sociale, storia, psicologia e politica internazionale la maggior parte di noi, data l’oceanica e proliferante complessità delle cose,......more

Goodreads review by Marks54 on October 28, 2015

I started this book as a preparation to reading the new critical biography of Bellow that came out earlier this year. I have read Bellow's work from time to time and enjoyed it, most recently Ravelstein. Bellow always struck me as a curious mix of intellectual vigor, penetrating insight, cynicism, a......more

Goodreads review by Lorraine on December 31, 2016

Bellow's been hard done by because the humanist notions that he espouses have become so clearly out of date. His books are hard to read today because of misogyny (the most apparent thing) and racism (less apparent, perhaps, but still visible depending on which texts you pick). In this bunch of essay......more

Goodreads review by Peter on September 17, 2018

There is simply too much to think about. The phrase, splashed across the cover, suggests a sweeping scope to which this collection doesn’t quite measure. But the title comes from an essay of the same name. In it, Saul Bellow laments the classification of writers as intellectuals and berates intellec......more

Goodreads review by SkipO on February 08, 2015

This was from Good Reads giveaway program.....Thank you. I am a lover of all things written by H L Mencken, so this was a fairly easy reading transition. I have never read Mr Bellow until this book and, in a word, it is delightful. It is grouped with articles from the 50's 60's 70's 80's and 90's which......more


Quotes

“This rich…collection of Bellow’s reviews, essays, speeches, and interviews illuminate his lifelong exploration of what it means to be an American, a Jew, and a writer. As assembled by Taylor, the pieces succeed in showing that Bellow’s calling was, in the novelist’s own words, ‘not to preach but to relate.’” Publishers Weekly

“Even a decade after his death, this collection illuminates Bellow’s continued relevance and confirms his standing as one of the most important American writers of the twentieth century.” Library Journal

“Nobel Prize winner Bellow was a prolific writer of nonfiction: essays, reviews, interviews, talks, and memoirs. Organized by decade, the fifty-seven pieces in this volume, edited by Taylor, trace both Bellow’s writing career and his outspoken opinions on politics, literature, and intellectual life in America during the second half of the twentieth century.…This comprehensive collection illuminates Bellow’s sense of his own identity and his changing world.” Kirkus Reviews


Awards

  • New York Times   Bestseller