Dec 20, 2009

The Adventures of Augie March | Techniques

The Adventures of Augie March is a picaresque narrative. Augie himself is a "picaro" or "rogue." Typical of the genre, the subject of The Adventures of Augie March becomes the adventures of a freedom-loving rascal who lives by his wits and changes little through the long course of his escapades. Like other picaresque narratives, The Adventures of Augie March is realistic in manner and episodic in structure. After his first two tightly organized novels, Bellow lets himself go.

Bellow also lets himself go in his writing style. The prose is original, exuberant,...