Herzog | Moses Herzog
Middle-aged scholar and educator Moses Herzog is at the point of mental collapse for most of the novel. His inability to accept his failed relationship with his wife Madeleine has triggered a sort of spiritual paralysis. In his book on Bellow, Dutton writes that Herzog "feels an alienation and, even worse, a uselessness, as if his life were an activity of wasted and misplaced effort." This uselessness prompts his search for fulfillment through scholarly activity, self examination, and relationships with others, especially women.
The novel's narrator characterizes Herzog as a...
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