Saul Bellow

An item at American Writers Museum

Saul Bellow offered a brash and exuberant take on the American novel, with antiheroes searching for meaning, identity, and courage in a mad modern world. His wry, slightly detached perspective may have stemmed from his status as an immigrant and his educational background in sociology and anthropology.

In 1976, Bellow won the Nobel Prize for fiction, technically for Humboldt's Gift (1975) but really for all of his novels between 1953 and 1975. The press release announcing the honor noted that these stories "have a rare vigour and stringency." Humboldt's Gift, which also won the Pulitzer Prize, is about the relationship between two writers and serves as a meditation on art and culture in America.

AMERICAN VOICES

An exhibit at American Writers Museum

American writing is distinctive, diverse, and comes in many forms from across the nation. The 100 authors featured here represent the evolution of American writing. Learn more about each writer on the timeline by turning the panels below their portraits. Explore centuries of writing by pulling, turning, and touching the interactive elements on the counter.

This is not meant to be a list of the greatest or most influential writers. Instead, we present authors and works as part of the American story as it grows and changes. Taken together, this rich literary heritage reflects America in all of its complexity: its energy, hope, conflict, disillusionment, and creativity.

American Writers Museum