Ravelstein - by Saul Bellow (Paperback)

About the Book

"In time for the centennial of his birth, the Noble Prize winner's moving final novel Deeply insightful, Saul Bellow's moving last novel is a journey through love and memory, an elegy to friendship, and a poignant meditation on death. Told in memoir form, it follows two university professors, one of whom is succumbing to AIDS, as they share thoughts on philosophy and history, loves and friends, mortality and art. This Penguin Classics edition commemorates the fifteenth anniversary of Viking's first publication of Ravelstein. Featuring a new introduction by Gary Shteyngart, it rounds out the entirety of Bellow's major works in Penguin Classics black spine"--

Book Synopsis

This Penguin Classics edition commemorates the fifteenth anniversary of Viking's first publication of Ravelstein. Featuring a new introduction by Gary Shteyngart, it is the final novel of Nobel Prize winner Saul Bellow and rounds out the entirety of his major works in Penguin Classics black spine.

Deeply insightful, Saul Bellow's moving last novel is a journey through love and memory, an elegy to friendship, and a poignant meditation on death. Told in memoir form, it follows two university professors, one of whom is succumbing to AIDS, as they share thoughts on philosophy and history, loves and friends, mortality and art.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Review Quotes

"The magic still sparks and flashes on the page...Masterful in its thoroughness and intricacy...the prose rings as clearly as a meditation bell." --Roland Merullo, The Philadelphia Inquirer (front-page review)

"This book rings with laughter and joy....Ravelstein is an extraordinary character...it is hard not to feel privileged at being allowed a glimpse into a human connection as intimate and rewarding as this one." --Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post Book World (front-page review)

"With his new novel, Saul Bellow proves that he still dominates. . . . Ravelstein is full of heart and wisdom, and I want to praise it without a pinch of qualification." --Sven Birkerts, Esquire

"A cause for celebration...Bellow hugs the modern world hard in this novel...Ravelstein is rich, deep, and unnervingly entertaining." --Jonathan Wilson, The New York Times Book Review (front-page review)

About the Author

SAUL BELLOW (1915-2005) won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel Humboldt's Gift, and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. The only novelist to receive three National Book Awards, he was presented the National Book Award Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.

GARY SHTEYNGART is the author of three novels and a memoir, Little Failure. His work has won the Stephen Crane Award and the National Jewish Book Award for Fiction. He lives in New York City.