A Silver Dish
by Saul Bellow
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See Also
- Theory of Short Fiction (Critical Survey of Short Fiction, Second Revised Edition)
- Saul Bellow (Cyclopedia of World Authors, Fourth Revised Edition)
- Saul Bellow (Dictionary of World Biography: The 20th Century)
- Saul Bellow (Identities & Issues in Literature)
- Saul Bellow (Critical Survey of Long Fiction, Fourth Edition)
- Saul Bellow (Critical Survey of Short Fiction, Second Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Saul Bellow
- First Published: 1978
- Type of Plot: Psychological
- Time of Work: The mid-twentieth century
- Setting: Chicago
- Characters: Woody Selbst, Morris Selbst, Mrs. Skoglund
- Genres: Psychological fiction, Short fiction
- Subjects: Family or family life, Memory, Parents and children, Self, Fathers, Generation gap
- Locales: United States, North America, Chicago, Illinois
The Story
After his father’s death, Woody Selbst feels a yawning emptiness in his life. At the age of sixty, he is deeply disturbed by questions about the meanings of life and death. In his period of mourning, he recalls a trip to the White Nile, where he had seen a buffalo calf being seized by a crocodile while the parent buffalo looked on without understanding what was happening. Their brute grief now helps him to cope with his own.
As Woody reflects on his own life, his father’s, and their unusual relationship, the story reveals the contours of Woody’s...
(The entire page is 1946 words.)
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