The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, January 14, 1976, Page page 9, Image 9
Wednesday, January 14, 1976 daily nebraskan page 9 Latest Belfow novel risks peril revealing American artist's fate By Bill Roberts Humboldt's Gift, by Saul Bellow The Viking Press, New York $10. Saul Bellow took some big risks with his latest novel, Humboldt's Gift. Besides the commercial danger of pro ducing a book with little sex and shoot'em-up action, the author ventures the perils of writing about writers. But because of his skill and insight, Bellow succeeds and gives us a thoughtful and satisfying book. During the 1930s, Von Humboldt Fleisher wrote Harlequin Ballads, a book of verses, and it created a sensation. Young and brilliant, Humboldt seemed to be the poet everyone was waiting for. It was hoped his creative fire would light the way for a new generation. Instead came drink, drugs and death for the young genius. "Humboldt did what poets in crass America are supposed to do," we are told. "He chased ruin and death even harder than he chased women. He blew his talent and his health and reached home, the grave, in a dusty slide." This could only happen, of course, in crass but wealthy America. "Maybe America didn't need art and inner miracles. Openings Imi Ksbraski ten Advisory Bosrd Interviews Jin. 17 Arts & Sciences Senator Stdsat Court Ccr.sil ca Ststdsist Life Fdlsttto Easrd Student Organizations laterviaw Jan. 20, 22 appScatisss caw hfo accepted in tha ASH office, 334 Ksb. fcica Cslslriisi Eiciird Him'i lirtSisj ill! & lllli? $tj. Bnii Tnnilf EQ1 FalstiH Un tailkt M in U J - T'li1MiM''' ?WBHMi-fiiLarriiMi-:- mi-friTHiMfrtiiiifiijt - "&stSs Ptlr.t c? Vis fold X "Tha Eaby Sitter" X-laid C:rtc:rJ I Horsefeathers I Opening This Week It had so many outer ones." Protege narrates With this account of the American genius's fate as a backdrop, Humboldt's Gift concerns Humboldt's protege, Charlie Citrine, who narrates the novel. . Citrine worships Humboldt. After reading Harlequin Ballads, Citrine left the Midwest for New York and took a job selling Fuller Brushes to be near the poet. They become friends, although Humboldt begins to lose his sanity. But then Citrine writes a play. Artistically mediocre the play is a Boradway smash and the movie made from it turns the protege into a rich, respected author. Humboldt is enraged and, as he is taken to a sanitarium, denounces Citrine. . More an intellectual than imaginative writer, Citrine is embarrassed. Embarrassment comes to him as naturally as deep thought and nothing embarrasses him more than the depth of his thought. , He lives in this private world of his thoughts, pop ulated by capitalized words such as Freedom, Pure Consciousness, Subject and Object. Citrine's former wife slashes away at his bank account in the divorce courts. A small-time hoodlum entangles him in dangerous schemes. His girlfriends feel sorry for his overtaxed and, to them, incomprehensible brain, All the while, Citrine is planning his essay on human history viewed from the perspective of the problem of Boredom. Quivering in inane Citrine describes himself as "a person keenly aware of painted veils, of Maya, of domes of many-colored glass staining the white radiance of eternity, quivering in the intense inane and so on." His wry view of himself makes him a character type somewhere between Hamlet and Woody Allen. Saul Bellow took on quite a problem when he decided to write about the artist and the intellectual in contem porary America. But the portrayal of Citrine gives the novel honesty and integrity, making it a joy to read. Humboldt rejected America and became a stranger to the proper subject of his art. It cost him his art. Citrine first allows America to swallow him, nearly whole. But with the help of Humboldt's legacy, Citrine comes to terms with his nation in the ironic and satisfy ing end of the novel. Bellow, unlike some of the characters in his book, took the difficult way out in writing this. Humboldt's Gift, an excellent novel, is a testament to his skills. tssLizLr- ; (SSffft & 1MW3. Photo courttsy of Vikino Prast Author Saul Bellow, whose latest novel, Humboldt's Gift portrays the '"artist and the intellectual in contemporary America." Faculty art shown By Charlie Krig The Biennial Faculty Art Exhibition opened last night at the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and will be featured until Feb. 8. Dan Howard, art dept. chairman, contributed a sextet of oil paintings that view life from a fragmented perspec tive. Gail Butt achieves a sense of distortion using water colors that run and blend together. Sculptors Tom Sheffield and Doug Ross used plastic and metal, respectively, to create forms with a feeling of flight and suspension. Other artists and their media include Kathy Gower and Richard Trickey, torn paper; James Alinder and Peter Worth, photographs; Pat Rowan, rock and wood, and Mike Nushfwa, Keith Jacobshagen, David Seyler, Marvin Spomer and Jim Eisentrager, paintings .' 'ale Starts Tomorrow! OTMT mom More 204 N. 13th under Douglas 3 I s i "Sometimes I think it would be a good thing to have a constitutional provision that says no fool can be a member of the US. Senate." 1228 P St r f 5 1 Mis 1 SAom T3 U i XJ U L V 1 J, ;CAArOV. I 6 A k Thursday, January 15 7:30 p.m. Uebr. Union '. . . Centennial Room "TO SPONSORED BY TALKS AND TOPICS rj AND THE DEPT. OF POLITICAL SCIENCE m QQ "JAWS'" sta' STANDI "American i ,mrA Graffiti" I 4i J Dr,yfs THURS i