Cheever, Leonard A. "The American Jungle Revisited: Saul
Bellow's A Theft." Publications of
the Arkansas Philological Association 16.2 (1990): 19–29.
Considers AT to be a reinvestation of some old themes, yet
significantly different from his previous thirteen books. Claims
it renews his earlier discussions of "potato-love," "unreality
instructors," and the American jungle. Reviews a variety of
critical responses to AT, and suggests
that Clara is convincing, endowed with powerful qualities, and a
fine exemplar?albeit a revised one?of potato love, romanticizing
reality instructors, and a move toward self-sufficiency.
Concludes that AT provides a bracing and affirmative argument in
favor of the proposition that it is possible to survive and
flourish in the urban jungle of a contemporary American
metropolis. AT may be called major Bellow in the important sense
that it finally demonstrates unmistakably what Bellow's chief
"old theme" has been all along.
Describes Bellow
and his setting during an interview about the publication history
of rejection and acceptance and final paperback publication
of AT. Reports Bellow's complaint that the piece
included too much political stuff, too much sex, vice, terrorism,
drugs, and other exciting, all-consuming topics. Provides a
smattering of reported answers, anecdotes, and jokes provided by
Bellow in the course of the interview.
Friedrich, Marianne M. "A
Theft: Bellow's Clara between Anarchy
and Utopia." Saul Bellow at
Seventy-five: A Collection of Critical Essays. Studies & Texts in English 9. Tübingen:
Narr, 1991. 177–88.
Notes the tendency
toward romance, myth, and fairy tale in the character conception
of Clara Velde. Sees at the base of the story the twin mythic
traditions of the medieval love story of Tristan and Isolde, and
that of the classical Hera myth. Sees the first as drawing on
Plato's concept of Eros as divine power which resists
institutionalization through marriage, and the second as that
which initiated a mythic tradition in Western civilization in
which love was institutionalized through marriage. Draws on
Jungian individuation psychology in developing this framework.
Concludes that in the present world Clara's utopian dream, the
sentimental education of "The Human Pair," remains suspended
between anarchy and utopia which, nevertheless, points to the
hope that the anarchic chasm in her life between marriage and
love may be bridged in the future.
Mcdowell, Edwin. "Saul Bellow Tries a New Approach."
New York Times Sept. 22, 1988: C24
Mostly discusses the unusual publishing
history of this novella and Bellow's disgust with the state of
fiction in the magazines.
Park, Sue. "Chinese Boxes, Rings and Words: Repetition in Saul
Bellow's A Theft." Conference of
College Teachers of English Studies 57 (1992): 5–13.
Describes the
incident in AT in which Clara throws Wilder's book out the window
into the street and draws attention to the cover design showing a
woman's arm throwing from a window of a Park Avenue apartment a
book on whose cover is a picture of a woman's arm throwing from a
window a gold book with a cover. Ties in the Chinese box cover
illustration of AT (Bellow's suggestion to the publisher) and notes
that the idea of repetition it suggests ties both the external
physical appearance of the book and its contents. Quotes Stanley
Fish's idea that this focuses attention on literature as kinetic
art with each punctuation mark and element being no longer an
object, but an event which happens to you. Traces Bellow's motif
of repetition at several of these levels of texuality with
particular emphasis on sentence structures, sequences in the
plot, descriptions and conversations. Concludes that all these
repetitions are designed to capture, Chinese Box style, the
stillness in the midst of chaos that they illustrate.
Raskin, Jonah. "Ring Around a Soap Opera." San Francisco Chronicle 5 Mar. 1989: sec. Reviews: 3.
Calls AT a conventional, melodramatic soap opera. Accuses Bellow
of turning out a product that incorporates all of the cliches and
formulas of mass American culture. Details plot and characters.
Notes Bellow's comments on glasnost, his cranky tone, and its
superficial solutions to the problems of love, human
relationships, and social order. Concludes that Bellow's
experiment with soap opera formulas backfires.
Siegel, Ben. "Love's Labors Lost: Saul Bellow's 'A
Theft.'" Saul Bellow
Journal 11.2–12. 1
(1993–94): 3–21. Rpt.in Small Planets: Saul Bellow and the Art of
Short Fiction. Eds. Gerhard Bach and
Gloria Cronin. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State UP, 2000.
281–96.
Argues that at
seventy-eight Bellow appears determined not to leave unused, in
the time left to him, any leftover or salvageable plot line or
story fragment. In fact, he seems to be reworking many of his
familiar characters and ideas for additional possibilities.
In AT, Bellow once again presents worldly intellectuals
more successful in their public than in their private lives. And
in this respect the book seems essentially a reworking of certain
aspects of earlier stories like "The Old System," "A Silver
Dish," and "What Kind of Day Did You Have," with its typical
high-strung women and high-powered men of previous stories that
Clara and Ithiel obviously resemble. Also discusses Clara as the
typical Bellow woman executive, with special problems in the
business world and the masculine roles she must adopt. Present
also are innocents, victims, and analysts of earlier fiction, as
well as the thieves and deceivers. Suggests that, like his
earlier fiction, this story avoids pat solutions and instead
offers the reader the opportunity to imagine for themselves how
Clara, Teddy Regler, and others will deal with ongoing confusion
and unfulfilled lives. Concludes that like everyone else, each
character will have to cope with that most insidious "thief" of
all?his or her own human frailties.
Travisano, Thomas J.
"A Theft." Magill's
Literary Annual: 1990. 2 vols. Ed.
Frank N. Magill. Pasadena: Salem, 1990. 792–95. 2
vols.
A descriptive
account of the contents of AT, which extols
Clara Veldt as a character who emerges untarnished from the
cauldron of gogmagogsville because of her contemporary openness
and surface hardness which rest on a foundation of a loyalty to a
chosen few, a characteristic which finds its source in her
American farm-girl origins. Sees the tale as lacking the
tragicomic texture of other Bellow works, engaging in comedy of
ideas, and functioning as comic opera or fable. Considers its own
humane appeal and sheer verbal drive considerable. Calls the
ending the typical Bellowvian quasi-triumphant ending which
attempts to pull together the inchoate energy, the sheer stream
of witty insight and anxious detail that is his trademark.
Records the
publication history of AT, details the
characters and plot, and condemns the book for being devoid of
ideas. Accuses Bellow of publishing for profit motive. Describes
the characters as hand puppets mumbling in a single, bored,
distracted monotone.
Banville, John. "Altogether Different; and Her Tears Seem a
Celebration.." London Review of Books 30 Mar. 1989: 21.
Argues that
AT has the
coherence and tension of a furled flower. Describes it as packed
with color and gaiety, minus tendentiousness and the hectoring
tones of the earlier novels. Describes Clara Velde and the other
characters in considerable detail. Concludes that this is a late
book with a touch of Autumn in it.
Benedictus, David. "109-Page Culture." Punch 10 March
1989: 66.
Witty
mock-dialogue in which Bellow and a fictional literary agent
discuss the plot and significance of AT.
"Bookshelf." Wall Street
Journa114 Mar. 1989: A22.
Claims that this
narrative lumbers along intelligently to a happy ending. Calls
the book a richly dressed little failure that should interest
readers of the New
Yorker, Esquire,
and Atlantic. Sees the plot as a series of one-way
conversations Clara holds with her confidante, Laura Wong.
Suggests, however, that these monologues, do not sparkle like
those of Bellow's brilliant male talkers. Concludes that
"oomphless narcissism" is as good as AT gets.
Boyers, Robert. "Losing Grip on Specifics." Times Literary Supplement 24–30 Mar. 1989: 299.
Finds the tension
in AT as that between creatureliness and ideas, the
uncertainty about what really happens in life. But claims
that AT lacks the specifics to "convey the material
density of a world or the texture of experience," and complains
that what specifics there are seem made up. Also complains that
the story is hard to take seriously because of two
factors?Clara's hysteria over losing a ring, and her textually
unverified motherly absorption with children?are unbelievable.
Yet claims that the story is compelling in other ways because of
the level of wit, language, and free play of intelligence.
Although lacking the "heightened dialectical fervor" of his great
novels, the reviewer argues, AT has his
unmistakable "rosy and idiomatic prose." Sees the book as a work
of self-limitation in which Bellow wants to see how far he can go
with the bare bones of an almost trivial story-line and thoughts
that are at best suggestive.
Brookner, Anita. "Ring of Falsehood." Spectator 15 Apr.
1989: 29–30.
Provides an
extensive plot summary. Asserts that Clara Velde becomes the
occasion of a story about a passionate woman who failed to marry
the man of her choice, and reveals little more about herself than
the contents of her undistinguished mind. Claims that
AT could
have been a story in higher confusion but in fact is not.
First synopsizes
many of the reviewers of AT and then sets
out to argue that too much has been made of Clara as a female
protagonist. Considers that, as in so many of Bellow's works, the
plot of this novella is subordinate to the author's interest in
character. Considers AT
an intimate and detailed exploration of
Clara Velde's soul. Considers it a marvelous work that reveals
Bellow's genius and fine wit.
Cheuse, Alan. "Saul Bellow's Ring of Truth." Chicago Tribune Books 5 Mar. 1989: 1, 4.
Briefly describes
the plot with its central focus, the theft, and its effect on the
protagonist, Clara Velde. Describes her in some detail along with
Ithiel Regler, her lover, and other characters. Finds vintage
Bellow here with "effervescent mental conversation, the urbane,
sophisticated, supple and idiosyncratic banter of ideas.., about
child abuse, psychiatry, international politics, culture, life,
love, youth, and age." Concludes that this is "a special sort of
humane entertainment" created by Bellow's rigor of heart and
mind.
Conarroe, Joel. "The Laureate's Latest, on Love." Washington Post 24
Feb. 1989: C3.
Describes the uniqueness of Bellow's quality paperback publishing
venture for this novel, the major characters, his mix of
"cerebral tonalities and vernacular jazz," and his usual practice
of casting" a cool and amused eye on the quips and cranks of
American life." Concludes that readers will read this engaging
tale to the end and not just display it on the shelf, which he
suspects they do with most of his idea-filled novels.
Eder, Richard. "Love in Gogmagogsville." Los Angeles Times Book Review 19 Mar. 1989: 3.
Discusses the theme, characters, and
conflicts of the story, finding its center the dual between Clara
Velde and Ithiel Regler through whom Bellow says more than he
tells. Finds the book slapdash and many characters only sketched.
Argues that this also applies even to Clara, for whom the book
contains only notes for what could become a memorable character.
Concludes that the book is "scrappy?in both senses?amiable, an
amiable mess, and sometimes just a mess."
Feeney, Mark. "What Made Frederic Seize the Ring?" Boston Globe 5
Feb. 1989: 86, 88.
Calls AT a book with
ugly moral undercurrents of racism because its picture of the
city as a dark, threatening ethnic jungle is presented neither
with subtlety nor differentiation. Complains that the book chugs
along in ungainly fashion toward no particular destination.
Concludes that this is that rarest of volumes in the Bellow
canon: an unmemorable book.
Fender, Stephen. "Hero into Heroine." Manchester Guardian Weekly 23 Apr. 1989: 30.
Provides an
interpretive character study of Clara Velde and concludes that
the book seems to exist mainly on the discursive level of the
suburban dinner party. Complains that it is difficult to remember
for long because it is too short to engage the reader
strenuously. Furthermore it is insufficiently crystalline to
stand as a parable.
"Fiction." Jim Kobak's Kirkus
Review 1 Aug. 1989: 1087.
Argues that
AT is
steadily intriguing and crisply told, yet oddly lacking in
resonance and conviction. Claims that Bellow works hard to invest
this anecdotal material with Jamesian layers of morality and
psychology, but that Clara and Teddy remain an assemblage of
striking attitudes
States that
AT left him
cold, because Clara Velde is uncompelling and because the book
lacks both humor and wisdom. Appreciates Ithiel Regler's rogue
value in the cannon, but insists that the story falls flat for
lack of tension and significat content. Details the plot, and
describes the various relationship that Clara is engaged in, most
of which are not presented in their full dramatic potential.
Suggests there is a dramatic vacuum at the center of the story
which derives from Bellow's failure to proper present the
relationship between Gina and Clara. Criticizes the stilted
dialogue, idiosyncratic slang, and the good-girl, bad-girl
characters. Wonders if the novella is a misstep of Bellow's age
and dismisses the idea by considering that this late
efflorescence from a great storyteller one can only compare to
Melville's Billy Budd.
Gray, Paul. "An Old Master in Soft-Covers." Time 6 Mar. 1989:
70.
Describes the publishing history of AT and calls its
characters astoundingly vibrant and intelligent. Comments that,
for a modest outlay, readers can buy an original work of art: a
world-class author producing a tale that is thoroughly typical
and engagingly new rather than fully drawn, believable
characters.
Johnson, Greg. "Bellow's
'Theft' Is a Deft, Contained Work." Atlanta Journal/Constitution 2 Apr. 1989: N 10.
Calls this novella "vintage Saul
Bellow, funny, deft, absorbing, simultaneously a novel of ideas
and a penetrating character study." Calls Clara Velde, his first
woman protagonist, one of his most memorable characters, and then
discusses the theft of the emerald as the central event of the
plot. Notes that we are spared Bellow's drawn-out intellectual
discussions that padded MDH and the meanderings of DD. Finds the
fast pacing and wry humor of AT more akin to SD. Concludes that
this is one of Bellow's finest works of fiction.
Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher. "Saul Bellow's Small Book of
Outsized Characters." New York
Times 2 Mar. 1989: C23.
Sees Clara Velde, the protagonist, as outsized and
contradictory. Describes her character, her relationship with
Ithiel Regler, and the impact on her of the theft of the emerald
ring. Concludes that Bellow has tried to reconcile three views of
Clara?her own, her lover's, and the narrator's. Notes that he has
created large, complicated people with generous hearts and
considered views on everything. Concludes that the fable of the
stolen ring is "strong enough to sweep them up in its
currents."
Marin, Rick. Rev. of A Theft American Spectator July 1989: 47–48.
Complains that
this long story, or short novel, never gets great, but is
nevertheless worth reading. Describes the characters, and
comments that Bellow's description of Clara Velde suggests she
looks much like Bellow himself and is literally a woman after his
own heart, "powerful and rich in her middle age." Finds Bellow
still railing about the fall of civilization?indiscriminate sex,
the criminal breed, and communism. Concludes that this is the
skeleton of a novel because the short form is unable to carry the
weight of the strong, powerful characters or Bellow's reactionary
polemics. Designates Bellow as a writer of big books, not little
ones.
MDdowell, Edwin. "Saul Bellow Tries a New Approach."
New York Times Sept. 22, 1988: C24
Mostly discusses the unusual publishing
history of this novella and Bellow's disgust with the state of
fiction in the magazines.
Comments that the
plot of AT has Krantzian-Robbinesque overtones. Suggests that
the book contains sudsy verbiage with enough subtleties of
thought and language to satisfy aficionados of serious
literature, and the boys back in Sweden.
Oates, Joyce Carol. "Bellow's Portraits." Where I've Been and Where I'm Going: Essays,
Reviews and Prose. New York: Plume,
157–60.
Oates, Joyce Carol. "Clara's Gift." New York Times Book Review 5 Mar. 1989: 3. Rpt. in Where I've Been and Where I'm Going: Essays,
Reviews, Prose. New York: Plume,
1999. 157–60.
Considers Bellow a
genius at portraiture. Describes his use of language and energy
in the service of his art, as well as his attempt to display,
admire, and analyze "the haunting contours and textures of the
physical world and the mystery of human personality in its
extraordinary variety." Compares the similarities and differences
between AT and previous works. Finds this work missing the
usual ground base in reality typical of Bellow, and sees Clara as
lacking sufficient intelligence for her position in life.
Concludes that Bellow, while noted as a realist, is really a
surrealist with an eye for the illuminatingly absurd.
Details the plot
and describes Clara Velde as less a high-fashion executive or
Bible-fed hick than the questing, self-analyzing, mouth-flapping
character that stands at the center of nearly all Bellow's work.
Comments that the talk seems sketchy at best, the story in a
peculiar hurry to end, and the lack of a material medium
responsible for depriving Bellow of his brilliant way with
figurative language, thus lessening the tension in each scene and
disembodying his characters. Concludes however, that even a
lesser work like AT is worth a slow, careful read.
Sees AT as another
Bellovian tale about a worldly intellectual suffering a
disorderly life, this time told from a female perspective.
Details the plot and concludes that this novel is not as tightly
constructed as SD, but that Clara Velde is an important and welcome
addition to his canon because she holds her own with the best of
Bellow's memorable men.
Prescott, Peter.
"Ringaround Park Avenue." Newsweek 20 Mar
1989: 80.
Describes Bellow's
history with the novella form and suggests that while AT may have its
problems, it is hard to dislike. Provides extensive plot summary
and notes that AT is
Bellow's light-handed "Ring of the Nibelung." Argues that the
major flaw consists of his not making Clara sufficiently
convincing as the Clausewitz of couture, even though she seems
curiously uncorrupted by her disordered life and has a most
engaging presence.
Pritchard, William H. "Realism without Magic." Hudson Review 42.3
(1989): 490.
Considers
AT to have
something verbally interesting on every page. Notes that, whereas
story and style are inseparable and function to produce maximum
pity and terror in SD, this novella doesn't get close to pity or
terror. Concludes that even its comedy seems oddly restrained and
muted.
Quinn, Anthony. "Clara's
Conversion." New Statesman &
Society 31 Mar. 1989: 35.
Calls AT a slight story about a large
woman?a restrained, but not a subdued book. Comments that it
reads like a gentle sojourn after the wintry chill of Bellow's
recent excursions.
Calls the prose of AT quick, dean, and
minus lyrical description. Connects Clara Velde with Demmie
Vonghel of HG. Notes that, while Clara has no theories, she does
have mettle, wit, and a gift for the dashing phrase. Sees AT as
an engrossing exercise in which New York has never seemed so
lonely, or its people so confined to such private bubbles. Calls
this his least gloomy book because it is full of freshness and
audacity and comes from the most vital novelist in English now at
work.
Raskin, Jonah. "Ring Around a Soap Opera." San Francisco Chronicle 5 Mar. 1989: sec Reviews: 3–4.
Timson, Judith. "It
Takes a Thief." Maclean's
24 Apr. 1989:66.
Comments
that AT is a daring, quirky book?witty, thoughtful, filled
with memorable lines, but curiously devoid of soul.
Towers, Robert. "Mystery Women." New York Review of Books 27 Apr. 1989: 50–52.
Comments on the
typical composite of the Bellow females and notes that they are
never mediated except through the male protagonist's eyes.
Contrasts this with the portrayal of Clara Velde who comes
relatively unmediated and yet is still related to the earlier
women. Concludes that what charm this little undernourished book
possesses lies in its language, even though the net effect is
skimpy.
Records the
publication history of AT, details the
characters and plot, and condemns the book for being devoid of
ideas. Accuses Bellow of publishing for profit motive. Describes
the characters as hand puppets mumbling in a single, bored,
distracted monotone.
Banville, John. "Altogether Different; and Her Tears Seem a
Celebration.." London Review of Books 30 Mar. 1989: 21.
Argues that
AT has the
coherence and tension of a furled flower. Describes it as packed
with color and gaiety, minus tendentiousness and the hectoring
tones of the earlier novels. Describes Clara Velde and the other
characters in considerable detail. Concludes that this is a late
book with a touch of Autumn in it.
Benedictus, David. "109-Page Culture." Punch 10 March
1989: 66.
Witty
mock-dialogue in which Bellow and a fictional literary agent
discuss the plot and significance of AT.
"Bookshelf." Wall Street
Journa114 Mar. 1989: A22.
Claims that this
narrative lumbers along intelligently to a happy ending. Calls
the book a richly dressed little failure that should interest
readers of the New
Yorker, Esquire,
and Atlantic. Sees the plot as a series of one-way
conversations Clara holds with her confidante, Laura Wong.
Suggests, however, that these monologues, do not sparkle like
those of Bellow's brilliant male talkers. Concludes that
"oomphless narcissism" is as good as AT gets.
Boyers, Robert. "Losing Grip on Specifics." Times Literary Supplement 24–30 Mar. 1989: 299.
Finds the tension
in AT as that between creatureliness and ideas, the
uncertainty about what really happens in life. But claims
that AT lacks the specifics to "convey the material
density of a world or the texture of experience," and complains
that what specifics there are seem made up. Also complains that
the story is hard to take seriously because of two
factors?Clara's hysteria over losing a ring, and her textually
unverified motherly absorption with children?are unbelievable.
Yet claims that the story is compelling in other ways because of
the level of wit, language, and free play of intelligence.
Although lacking the "heightened dialectical fervor" of his great
novels, the reviewer argues, AT has his
unmistakable "rosy and idiomatic prose." Sees the book as a work
of self-limitation in which Bellow wants to see how far he can go
with the bare bones of an almost trivial story-line and thoughts
that are at best suggestive.
Brookner, Anita. "Ring of Falsehood." Spectator 15 Apr.
1989: 29–30.
Provides an
extensive plot summary. Asserts that Clara Velde becomes the
occasion of a story about a passionate woman who failed to marry
the man of her choice, and reveals little more about herself than
the contents of her undistinguished mind. Claims that
AT could
have been a story in higher confusion but in fact is not.
First synopsizes
many of the reviewers of AT and then sets
out to argue that too much has been made of Clara as a female
protagonist. Considers that, as in so many of Bellow's works, the
plot of this novella is subordinate to the author's interest in
character. Considers AT
an intimate and detailed exploration of
Clara Velde's soul. Considers it a marvelous work that reveals
Bellow's genius and fine wit.
Cheuse, Alan. "Saul Bellow's Ring of Truth." Chicago Tribune Books 5 Mar. 1989: 1, 4.
Briefly describes
the plot with its central focus, the theft, and its effect on the
protagonist, Clara Velde. Describes her in some detail along with
Ithiel Regler, her lover, and other characters. Finds vintage
Bellow here with "effervescent mental conversation, the urbane,
sophisticated, supple and idiosyncratic banter of ideas.., about
child abuse, psychiatry, international politics, culture, life,
love, youth, and age." Concludes that this is "a special sort of
humane entertainment" created by Bellow's rigor of heart and
mind.
Conarroe, Joel. "The Laureate's Latest, on Love." Washington Post 24
Feb. 1989: C3.
Describes the uniqueness of Bellow's quality paperback publishing
venture for this novel, the major characters, his mix of
"cerebral tonalities and vernacular jazz," and his usual practice
of casting" a cool and amused eye on the quips and cranks of
American life." Concludes that readers will read this engaging
tale to the end and not just display it on the shelf, which he
suspects they do with most of his idea-filled novels.
Eder, Richard. "Love in Gogmagogsville." Los Angeles Times Book Review 19 Mar. 1989: 3.
Discusses the theme, characters, and
conflicts of the story, finding its center the dual between Clara
Velde and Ithiel Regler through whom Bellow says more than he
tells. Finds the book slapdash and many characters only sketched.
Argues that this also applies even to Clara, for whom the book
contains only notes for what could become a memorable character.
Concludes that the book is "scrappy?in both senses?amiable, an
amiable mess, and sometimes just a mess."
Feeney, Mark. "What Made Frederic Seize the Ring?" Boston Globe 5
Feb. 1989: 86, 88.
Calls AT a book with
ugly moral undercurrents of racism because its picture of the
city as a dark, threatening ethnic jungle is presented neither
with subtlety nor differentiation. Complains that the book chugs
along in ungainly fashion toward no particular destination.
Concludes that this is that rarest of volumes in the Bellow
canon: an unmemorable book.
Fender, Stephen. "Hero into Heroine." Manchester Guardian Weekly 23 Apr. 1989: 30.
Provides an
interpretive character study of Clara Velde and concludes that
the book seems to exist mainly on the discursive level of the
suburban dinner party. Complains that it is difficult to remember
for long because it is too short to engage the reader
strenuously. Furthermore it is insufficiently crystalline to
stand as a parable.
"Fiction." Jim Kobak's Kirkus
Review 1 Aug. 1989: 1087.
Argues that
AT is
steadily intriguing and crisply told, yet oddly lacking in
resonance and conviction. Claims that Bellow works hard to invest
this anecdotal material with Jamesian layers of morality and
psychology, but that Clara and Teddy remain an assemblage of
striking attitudes
States that
AT left him
cold, because Clara Velde is uncompelling and because the book
lacks both humor and wisdom. Appreciates Ithiel Regler's rogue
value in the cannon, but insists that the story falls flat for
lack of tension and significat content. Details the plot, and
describes the various relationship that Clara is engaged in, most
of which are not presented in their full dramatic potential.
Suggests there is a dramatic vacuum at the center of the story
which derives from Bellow's failure to proper present the
relationship between Gina and Clara. Criticizes the stilted
dialogue, idiosyncratic slang, and the good-girl, bad-girl
characters. Wonders if the novella is a misstep of Bellow's age
and dismisses the idea by considering that this late
efflorescence from a great storyteller one can only compare to
Melville's Billy Budd.
Gray, Paul. "An Old Master in Soft-Covers." Time 6 Mar. 1989:
70.
Describes the publishing history of AT and calls its
characters astoundingly vibrant and intelligent. Comments that,
for a modest outlay, readers can buy an original work of art: a
world-class author producing a tale that is thoroughly typical
and engagingly new rather than fully drawn, believable
characters.
Johnson, Greg. "Bellow's
'Theft' Is a Deft, Contained Work." Atlanta Journal/Constitution 2 Apr. 1989: N 10.
Calls this novella "vintage Saul
Bellow, funny, deft, absorbing, simultaneously a novel of ideas
and a penetrating character study." Calls Clara Velde, his first
woman protagonist, one of his most memorable characters, and then
discusses the theft of the emerald as the central event of the
plot. Notes that we are spared Bellow's drawn-out intellectual
discussions that padded MDH and the meanderings of DD. Finds the
fast pacing and wry humor of AT more akin to SD. Concludes that
this is one of Bellow's finest works of fiction.
Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher. "Saul Bellow's Small Book of
Outsized Characters." New York
Times 2 Mar. 1989: C23.
Sees Clara Velde, the protagonist, as outsized and
contradictory. Describes her character, her relationship with
Ithiel Regler, and the impact on her of the theft of the emerald
ring. Concludes that Bellow has tried to reconcile three views of
Clara?her own, her lover's, and the narrator's. Notes that he has
created large, complicated people with generous hearts and
considered views on everything. Concludes that the fable of the
stolen ring is "strong enough to sweep them up in its
currents."
Marin, Rick. Rev. of A Theft American Spectator July 1989: 47–48.
Complains that
this long story, or short novel, never gets great, but is
nevertheless worth reading. Describes the characters, and
comments that Bellow's description of Clara Velde suggests she
looks much like Bellow himself and is literally a woman after his
own heart, "powerful and rich in her middle age." Finds Bellow
still railing about the fall of civilization?indiscriminate sex,
the criminal breed, and communism. Concludes that this is the
skeleton of a novel because the short form is unable to carry the
weight of the strong, powerful characters or Bellow's reactionary
polemics. Designates Bellow as a writer of big books, not little
ones.
MDdowell, Edwin. "Saul Bellow Tries a New Approach."
New York Times Sept. 22, 1988: C24
Mostly discusses the unusual publishing
history of this novella and Bellow's disgust with the state of
fiction in the magazines.
Comments that the
plot of AT has Krantzian-Robbinesque overtones. Suggests that
the book contains sudsy verbiage with enough subtleties of
thought and language to satisfy aficionados of serious
literature, and the boys back in Sweden.
Oates, Joyce Carol. "Bellow's Portraits." Where I've Been and Where I'm Going: Essays,
Reviews and Prose. New York: Plume,
157–60.
Oates, Joyce Carol. "Clara's Gift." New York Times Book Review 5 Mar. 1989: 3. Rpt. in Where I've Been and Where I'm Going: Essays,
Reviews, Prose. New York: Plume,
1999. 157–60.
Considers Bellow a
genius at portraiture. Describes his use of language and energy
in the service of his art, as well as his attempt to display,
admire, and analyze "the haunting contours and textures of the
physical world and the mystery of human personality in its
extraordinary variety." Compares the similarities and differences
between AT and previous works. Finds this work missing the
usual ground base in reality typical of Bellow, and sees Clara as
lacking sufficient intelligence for her position in life.
Concludes that Bellow, while noted as a realist, is really a
surrealist with an eye for the illuminatingly absurd.
Details the plot
and describes Clara Velde as less a high-fashion executive or
Bible-fed hick than the questing, self-analyzing, mouth-flapping
character that stands at the center of nearly all Bellow's work.
Comments that the talk seems sketchy at best, the story in a
peculiar hurry to end, and the lack of a material medium
responsible for depriving Bellow of his brilliant way with
figurative language, thus lessening the tension in each scene and
disembodying his characters. Concludes however, that even a
lesser work like AT is worth a slow, careful read.
Sees AT as another
Bellovian tale about a worldly intellectual suffering a
disorderly life, this time told from a female perspective.
Details the plot and concludes that this novel is not as tightly
constructed as SD, but that Clara Velde is an important and welcome
addition to his canon because she holds her own with the best of
Bellow's memorable men.
Prescott, Peter.
"Ringaround Park Avenue." Newsweek 20 Mar
1989: 80.
Describes Bellow's
history with the novella form and suggests that while AT may have its
problems, it is hard to dislike. Provides extensive plot summary
and notes that AT is
Bellow's light-handed "Ring of the Nibelung." Argues that the
major flaw consists of his not making Clara sufficiently
convincing as the Clausewitz of couture, even though she seems
curiously uncorrupted by her disordered life and has a most
engaging presence.
Pritchard, William H. "Realism without Magic." Hudson Review 42.3
(1989): 490.
Considers
AT to have
something verbally interesting on every page. Notes that, whereas
story and style are inseparable and function to produce maximum
pity and terror in SD, this novella doesn't get close to pity or
terror. Concludes that even its comedy seems oddly restrained and
muted.
Quinn, Anthony. "Clara's
Conversion." New Statesman &
Society 31 Mar. 1989: 35.
Calls AT a slight story about a large
woman?a restrained, but not a subdued book. Comments that it
reads like a gentle sojourn after the wintry chill of Bellow's
recent excursions.
Calls the prose of AT quick, dean, and
minus lyrical description. Connects Clara Velde with Demmie
Vonghel of HG. Notes that, while Clara has no theories, she does
have mettle, wit, and a gift for the dashing phrase. Sees AT as
an engrossing exercise in which New York has never seemed so
lonely, or its people so confined to such private bubbles. Calls
this his least gloomy book because it is full of freshness and
audacity and comes from the most vital novelist in English now at
work.
Raskin, Jonah. "Ring Around a Soap Opera." San Francisco Chronicle 5 Mar. 1989: sec Reviews: 3–4.
Timson, Judith. "It
Takes a Thief." Maclean's
24 Apr. 1989:66.
Comments
that AT is a daring, quirky book?witty, thoughtful, filled
with memorable lines, but curiously devoid of soul.
Towers, Robert. "Mystery Women." New York Review of Books 27 Apr. 1989: 50–52.
Comments on the
typical composite of the Bellow females and notes that they are
never mediated except through the male protagonist's eyes.
Contrasts this with the portrayal of Clara Velde who comes
relatively unmediated and yet is still related to the earlier
women. Concludes that what charm this little undernourished book
possesses lies in its language, even though the net effect is
skimpy.
Updike, John. "NiceTries." New
Yorker 1 May 1989:113–14.
Provides brief
remarks about the gender issues raised in the novel, the chief
characters, Bellow's lively thematic explorations, his solicitude
for his characters, and his energized scope.
Records thepublication history of AT, details thecharacters and plot, and condemns the book for being devoid ofideas. Accuses Bellow of publishing for profit motive. Describesthe characters as hand puppets mumbling in a single, bored,distracted monotone.
Banville, John. "Altogether Different; and Her Tears Seem aCelebration.." London Review of Books 30 Mar. 1989: 21.
Argues thatAT has thecoherence and tension of a furled flower. Describes it as packedwith color and gaiety, minus tendentiousness and the hectoringtones of the earlier novels. Describes Clara Velde and the othercharacters in considerable detail. Concludes that this is a latebook with a touch of Autumn in it.
Wittymock-dialogue in which Bellow and a fictional literary agentdiscuss the plot and significance of AT.
"Bookshelf." Wall StreetJourna114 Mar. 1989: A22.
Claims that thisnarrative lumbers along intelligently to a happy ending. Callsthe book a richly dressed little failure that should interestreaders of the NewYorker, Esquire,and Atlantic. Sees the plot as a series of one-wayconversations Clara holds with her confidante, Laura Wong.Suggests, however, that these monologues, do not sparkle likethose of Bellow's brilliant male talkers. Concludes that"oomphless narcissism" is as good as AT gets.
Boyers, Robert. "Losing Grip on Specifics." Times Literary Supplement 24–30 Mar. 1989: 299.
Finds the tensionin AT as that between creatureliness and ideas, theuncertainty about what really happens in life. But claimsthat AT lacks the specifics to "convey the materialdensity of a world or the texture of experience," and complainsthat what specifics there are seem made up. Also complains thatthe story is hard to take seriously because of twofactors?Clara's hysteria over losing a ring, and her textuallyunverified motherly absorption with children?are unbelievable.Yet claims that the story is compelling in other ways because ofthe level of wit, language, and free play of intelligence.Although lacking the "heightened dialectical fervor" of his greatnovels, the reviewer argues, AT has hisunmistakable "rosy and idiomatic prose." Sees the book as a workof self-limitation in which Bellow wants to see how far he can gowith the bare bones of an almost trivial story-line and thoughtsthat are at best suggestive.
Brookner, Anita. "Ring of Falsehood." Spectator 15 Apr.1989: 29–30.
Provides anextensive plot summary. Asserts that Clara Velde becomes theoccasion of a story about a passionate woman who failed to marrythe man of her choice, and reveals little more about herself thanthe contents of her undistinguished mind. Claims thatAT couldhave been a story in higher confusion but in fact is not.
Chavkin, Allen."Bellow's A Theft." Saul BellowJournal 8. 1 (1989):68–70.
First synopsizesmany of the reviewers of AT and then setsout to argue that too much has been made of Clara as a femaleprotagonist. Considers that, as in so many of Bellow's works, theplot of this novella is subordinate to the author's interest incharacter. Considers ATan intimate and detailed exploration ofClara Velde's soul. Considers it a marvelous work that revealsBellow's genius and fine wit.
Cheuse, Alan. "Saul Bellow's Ring of Truth." Chicago Tribune Books 5 Mar. 1989: 1, 4.
Briefly describesthe plot with its central focus, the theft, and its effect on theprotagonist, Clara Velde. Describes her in some detail along withIthiel Regler, her lover, and other characters. Finds vintageBellow here with "effervescent mental conversation, the urbane,sophisticated, supple and idiosyncratic banter of ideas.., aboutchild abuse, psychiatry, international politics, culture, life,love, youth, and age." Concludes that this is "a special sort ofhumane entertainment" created by Bellow's rigor of heart andmind.
Conarroe, Joel. "The Laureate's Latest, on Love." Washington Post 24Feb. 1989: C3.
Describes the uniqueness of Bellow's quality paperback publishingventure for this novel, the major characters, his mix of"cerebral tonalities and vernacular jazz," and his usual practiceof casting" a cool and amused eye on the quips and cranks ofAmerican life." Concludes that readers will read this engagingtale to the end and not just display it on the shelf, which hesuspects they do with most of his idea-filled novels.
Eder, Richard. "Love in Gogmagogsville." Los Angeles Times Book Review 19 Mar. 1989: 3.
Discusses the theme, characters, andconflicts of the story, finding its center the dual between ClaraVelde and Ithiel Regler through whom Bellow says more than hetells. Finds the book slapdash and many characters only sketched.Argues that this also applies even to Clara, for whom the bookcontains only notes for what could become a memorable character.Concludes that the book is "scrappy?in both senses?amiable, anamiable mess, and sometimes just a mess."
Feeney, Mark. "What Made Frederic Seize the Ring?" Boston Globe 5Feb. 1989: 86, 88.
Calls AT a book withugly moral undercurrents of racism because its picture of thecity as a dark, threatening ethnic jungle is presented neitherwith subtlety nor differentiation. Complains that the book chugsalong in ungainly fashion toward no particular destination.Concludes that this is that rarest of volumes in the Bellowcanon: an unmemorable book.
Fender, Stephen. "Hero into Heroine." Manchester Guardian Weekly 23 Apr. 1989: 30.
Provides aninterpretive character study of Clara Velde and concludes thatthe book seems to exist mainly on the discursive level of thesuburban dinner party. Complains that it is difficult to rememberfor long because it is too short to engage the readerstrenuously. Furthermore it is insufficiently crystalline tostand as a parable.
"Fiction." Jim Kobak's KirkusReview 1 Aug. 1989: 1087.
Argues thatAT issteadily intriguing and crisply told, yet oddly lacking inresonance and conviction. Claims that Bellow works hard to investthis anecdotal material with Jamesian layers of morality andpsychology, but that Clara and Teddy remain an assemblage ofstriking attitudes
States thatAT left himcold, because Clara Velde is uncompelling and because the booklacks both humor and wisdom. Appreciates Ithiel Regler's roguevalue in the cannon, but insists that the story falls flat forlack of tension and significat content. Details the plot, anddescribes the various relationship that Clara is engaged in, mostof which are not presented in their full dramatic potential.Suggests there is a dramatic vacuum at the center of the storywhich derives from Bellow's failure to proper present therelationship between Gina and Clara. Criticizes the stilteddialogue, idiosyncratic slang, and the good-girl, bad-girlcharacters. Wonders if the novella is a misstep of Bellow's ageand dismisses the idea by considering that this lateefflorescence from a great storyteller one can only compare toMelville's Billy Budd.
Gray, Paul. "An Old Master in Soft-Covers." Time 6 Mar. 1989:70.
Describes the publishing history of AT and calls itscharacters astoundingly vibrant and intelligent. Comments that,for a modest outlay, readers can buy an original work of art: aworld-class author producing a tale that is thoroughly typicaland engagingly new rather than fully drawn, believablecharacters.
Johnson, Greg. "Bellow's'Theft' Is a Deft, Contained Work." Atlanta Journal/Constitution 2 Apr. 1989: N 10.
Calls this novella "vintage SaulBellow, funny, deft, absorbing, simultaneously a novel of ideasand a penetrating character study." Calls Clara Velde, his firstwoman protagonist, one of his most memorable characters, and thendiscusses the theft of the emerald as the central event of theplot. Notes that we are spared Bellow's drawn-out intellectualdiscussions that padded MDH and the meanderings of DD. Finds thefast pacing and wry humor of AT more akin to SD. Concludes thatthis is one of Bellow's finest works of fiction.
Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher. "Saul Bellow's Small Book ofOutsized Characters." New YorkTimes 2 Mar. 1989: C23.
Sees Clara Velde, the protagonist, as outsized andcontradictory. Describes her character, her relationship withIthiel Regler, and the impact on her of the theft of the emeraldring. Concludes that Bellow has tried to reconcile three views ofClara?her own, her lover's, and the narrator's. Notes that he hascreated large, complicated people with generous hearts andconsidered views on everything. Concludes that the fable of thestolen ring is "strong enough to sweep them up in itscurrents."
Marin, Rick. Rev. of A Theft American Spectator July 1989: 47–48.
Complains thatthis long story, or short novel, never gets great, but isnevertheless worth reading. Describes the characters, andcomments that Bellow's description of Clara Velde suggests shelooks much like Bellow himself and is literally a woman after hisown heart, "powerful and rich in her middle age." Finds Bellowstill railing about the fall of civilization?indiscriminate sex,the criminal breed, and communism. Concludes that this is theskeleton of a novel because the short form is unable to carry theweight of the strong, powerful characters or Bellow's reactionarypolemics. Designates Bellow as a writer of big books, not littleones.
MDdowell, Edwin. "Saul Bellow Tries a New Approach."New York Times Sept. 22, 1988: C24
Mostly discusses the unusual publishinghistory of this novella and Bellow's disgust with the state offiction in the magazines.
Comments that theplot of AT has Krantzian-Robbinesque overtones. Suggests thatthe book contains sudsy verbiage with enough subtleties ofthought and language to satisfy aficionados of seriousliterature, and the boys back in Sweden.
Oates, Joyce Carol. "Bellow's Portraits." Where I've Been and Where I'm Going: Essays,Reviews and Prose. New York: Plume,157–60.
Oates, Joyce Carol. "Clara's Gift." New York Times Book Review 5 Mar. 1989: 3. Rpt. in Where I've Been and Where I'm Going: Essays,Reviews, Prose. New York: Plume,1999. 157–60.
Considers Bellow agenius at portraiture. Describes his use of language and energyin the service of his art, as well as his attempt to display,admire, and analyze "the haunting contours and textures of thephysical world and the mystery of human personality in itsextraordinary variety." Compares the similarities and differencesbetween AT and previous works. Finds this work missing theusual ground base in reality typical of Bellow, and sees Clara aslacking sufficient intelligence for her position in life.Concludes that Bellow, while noted as a realist, is really asurrealist with an eye for the illuminatingly absurd.
Details the plotand describes Clara Velde as less a high-fashion executive orBible-fed hick than the questing, self-analyzing, mouth-flappingcharacter that stands at the center of nearly all Bellow's work.Comments that the talk seems sketchy at best, the story in apeculiar hurry to end, and the lack of a material mediumresponsible for depriving Bellow of his brilliant way withfigurative language, thus lessening the tension in each scene anddisembodying his characters. Concludes however, that even alesser work like AT is worth a slow, careful read.
Sees AT as anotherBellovian tale about a worldly intellectual suffering adisorderly life, this time told from a female perspective.Details the plot and concludes that this novel is not as tightlyconstructed as SD, but that Clara Velde is an important and welcomeaddition to his canon because she holds her own with the best ofBellow's memorable men.
Prescott, Peter."Ringaround Park Avenue." Newsweek 20 Mar1989: 80.
Describes Bellow'shistory with the novella form and suggests that while AT may have itsproblems, it is hard to dislike. Provides extensive plot summaryand notes that AT isBellow's light-handed "Ring of the Nibelung." Argues that themajor flaw consists of his not making Clara sufficientlyconvincing as the Clausewitz of couture, even though she seemscuriously uncorrupted by her disordered life and has a mostengaging presence.
Pritchard, William H. "Realism without Magic." Hudson Review 42.3(1989): 490.
ConsidersAT to havesomething verbally interesting on every page. Notes that, whereasstory and style are inseparable and function to produce maximumpity and terror in SD, this novella doesn't get close to pity orterror. Concludes that even its comedy seems oddly restrained andmuted.
Quinn, Anthony. "Clara'sConversion." New Statesman &Society 31 Mar. 1989: 35.
Calls AT a slight story about a largewoman?a restrained, but not a subdued book. Comments that itreads like a gentle sojourn after the wintry chill of Bellow'srecent excursions.
Calls the prose of AT quick, dean, andminus lyrical description. Connects Clara Velde with DemmieVonghel of HG. Notes that, while Clara has no theories, she doeshave mettle, wit, and a gift for the dashing phrase. Sees AT asan engrossing exercise in which New York has never seemed solonely, or its people so confined to such private bubbles. Callsthis his least gloomy book because it is full of freshness andaudacity and comes from the most vital novelist in English now atwork.
Raskin, Jonah. "Ring Around a Soap Opera." San Francisco Chronicle 5 Mar. 1989: sec Reviews: 3–4.
Timson, Judith. "ItTakes a Thief." Maclean's24 Apr. 1989:66.
Commentsthat AT is a daring, quirky book?witty, thoughtful, filledwith memorable lines, but curiously devoid of soul.
Towers, Robert. "Mystery Women." New York Review of Books 27 Apr. 1989: 50–52.
Comments on thetypical composite of the Bellow females and notes that they arenever mediated except through the male protagonist's eyes.Contrasts this with the portrayal of Clara Velde who comesrelatively unmediated and yet is still related to the earlierwomen. Concludes that what charm this little undernourished bookpossesses lies in its language, even though the net effect isskimpy.
Updike, John. "NiceTries." NewYorker 1 May 1989:113–14.
Provides briefremarks about the gender issues raised in the novel, the chiefcharacters, Bellow's lively thematic explorations, his solicitudefor his characters, and his energized scope.
Records the
publication history of AT, details the
characters and plot, and condemns the book for being devoid of
ideas. Accuses Bellow of publishing for profit motive. Describes
the characters as hand puppets mumbling in a single, bored,
distracted monotone.
Banville, John. "Altogether Different; and Her Tears Seem a
Celebration.." London Review of Books 30 Mar. 1989: 21.
Argues that
AT has the
coherence and tension of a furled flower. Describes it as packed
with color and gaiety, minus tendentiousness and the hectoring
tones of the earlier novels. Describes Clara Velde and the other
characters in considerable detail. Concludes that this is a late
book with a touch of Autumn in it.
Benedictus, David. "109-Page Culture." Punch 10 March
1989: 66.
Witty
mock-dialogue in which Bellow and a fictional literary agent
discuss the plot and significance of AT.
"Bookshelf." Wall Street
Journa114 Mar. 1989: A22.
Claims that this
narrative lumbers along intelligently to a happy ending. Calls
the book a richly dressed little failure that should interest
readers of the New
Yorker, Esquire,
and Atlantic. Sees the plot as a series of one-way
conversations Clara holds with her confidante, Laura Wong.
Suggests, however, that these monologues, do not sparkle like
those of Bellow's brilliant male talkers. Concludes that
"oomphless narcissism" is as good as AT gets.
Boyers, Robert. "Losing Grip on Specifics." Times Literary Supplement 24–30 Mar. 1989: 299.
Finds the tension
in AT as that between creatureliness and ideas, the
uncertainty about what really happens in life. But claims
that AT lacks the specifics to "convey the material
density of a world or the texture of experience," and complains
that what specifics there are seem made up. Also complains that
the story is hard to take seriously because of two
factors?Clara's hysteria over losing a ring, and her textually
unverified motherly absorption with children?are unbelievable.
Yet claims that the story is compelling in other ways because of
the level of wit, language, and free play of intelligence.
Although lacking the "heightened dialectical fervor" of his great
novels, the reviewer argues, AT has his
unmistakable "rosy and idiomatic prose." Sees the book as a work
of self-limitation in which Bellow wants to see how far he can go
with the bare bones of an almost trivial story-line and thoughts
that are at best suggestive.
Brookner, Anita. "Ring of Falsehood." Spectator 15 Apr.
1989: 29–30.
Provides an
extensive plot summary. Asserts that Clara Velde becomes the
occasion of a story about a passionate woman who failed to marry
the man of her choice, and reveals little more about herself than
the contents of her undistinguished mind. Claims that
AT could
have been a story in higher confusion but in fact is not.
First synopsizes
many of the reviewers of AT and then sets
out to argue that too much has been made of Clara as a female
protagonist. Considers that, as in so many of Bellow's works, the
plot of this novella is subordinate to the author's interest in
character. Considers AT
an intimate and detailed exploration of
Clara Velde's soul. Considers it a marvelous work that reveals
Bellow's genius and fine wit.
Cheuse, Alan. "Saul Bellow's Ring of Truth." Chicago Tribune Books 5 Mar. 1989: 1, 4.
Briefly describes
the plot with its central focus, the theft, and its effect on the
protagonist, Clara Velde. Describes her in some detail along with
Ithiel Regler, her lover, and other characters. Finds vintage
Bellow here with "effervescent mental conversation, the urbane,
sophisticated, supple and idiosyncratic banter of ideas.., about
child abuse, psychiatry, international politics, culture, life,
love, youth, and age." Concludes that this is "a special sort of
humane entertainment" created by Bellow's rigor of heart and
mind.
Conarroe, Joel. "The Laureate's Latest, on Love." Washington Post 24
Feb. 1989: C3.
Describes the uniqueness of Bellow's quality paperback publishing
venture for this novel, the major characters, his mix of
"cerebral tonalities and vernacular jazz," and his usual practice
of casting" a cool and amused eye on the quips and cranks of
American life." Concludes that readers will read this engaging
tale to the end and not just display it on the shelf, which he
suspects they do with most of his idea-filled novels.
Eder, Richard. "Love in Gogmagogsville." Los Angeles Times Book Review 19 Mar. 1989: 3.
Discusses the theme, characters, and
conflicts of the story, finding its center the dual between Clara
Velde and Ithiel Regler through whom Bellow says more than he
tells. Finds the book slapdash and many characters only sketched.
Argues that this also applies even to Clara, for whom the book
contains only notes for what could become a memorable character.
Concludes that the book is "scrappy?in both senses?amiable, an
amiable mess, and sometimes just a mess."
Feeney, Mark. "What Made Frederic Seize the Ring?" Boston Globe 5
Feb. 1989: 86, 88.
Calls AT a book with
ugly moral undercurrents of racism because its picture of the
city as a dark, threatening ethnic jungle is presented neither
with subtlety nor differentiation. Complains that the book chugs
along in ungainly fashion toward no particular destination.
Concludes that this is that rarest of volumes in the Bellow
canon: an unmemorable book.
Fender, Stephen. "Hero into Heroine." Manchester Guardian Weekly 23 Apr. 1989: 30.
Provides an
interpretive character study of Clara Velde and concludes that
the book seems to exist mainly on the discursive level of the
suburban dinner party. Complains that it is difficult to remember
for long because it is too short to engage the reader
strenuously. Furthermore it is insufficiently crystalline to
stand as a parable.
"Fiction." Jim Kobak's Kirkus
Review 1 Aug. 1989: 1087.
Argues that
AT is
steadily intriguing and crisply told, yet oddly lacking in
resonance and conviction. Claims that Bellow works hard to invest
this anecdotal material with Jamesian layers of morality and
psychology, but that Clara and Teddy remain an assemblage of
striking attitudes
States that
AT left him
cold, because Clara Velde is uncompelling and because the book
lacks both humor and wisdom. Appreciates Ithiel Regler's rogue
value in the cannon, but insists that the story falls flat for
lack of tension and significat content. Details the plot, and
describes the various relationship that Clara is engaged in, most
of which are not presented in their full dramatic potential.
Suggests there is a dramatic vacuum at the center of the story
which derives from Bellow's failure to proper present the
relationship between Gina and Clara. Criticizes the stilted
dialogue, idiosyncratic slang, and the good-girl, bad-girl
characters. Wonders if the novella is a misstep of Bellow's age
and dismisses the idea by considering that this late
efflorescence from a great storyteller one can only compare to
Melville's Billy Budd.
Gray, Paul. "An Old Master in Soft-Covers." Time 6 Mar. 1989:
70.
Describes the publishing history of AT and calls its
characters astoundingly vibrant and intelligent. Comments that,
for a modest outlay, readers can buy an original work of art: a
world-class author producing a tale that is thoroughly typical
and engagingly new rather than fully drawn, believable
characters.
Johnson, Greg. "Bellow's
'Theft' Is a Deft, Contained Work." Atlanta Journal/Constitution 2 Apr. 1989: N 10.
Calls this novella "vintage Saul
Bellow, funny, deft, absorbing, simultaneously a novel of ideas
and a penetrating character study." Calls Clara Velde, his first
woman protagonist, one of his most memorable characters, and then
discusses the theft of the emerald as the central event of the
plot. Notes that we are spared Bellow's drawn-out intellectual
discussions that padded MDH and the meanderings of DD. Finds the
fast pacing and wry humor of AT more akin to SD. Concludes that
this is one of Bellow's finest works of fiction.
Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher. "Saul Bellow's Small Book of
Outsized Characters." New York
Times 2 Mar. 1989: C23.
Sees Clara Velde, the protagonist, as outsized and
contradictory. Describes her character, her relationship with
Ithiel Regler, and the impact on her of the theft of the emerald
ring. Concludes that Bellow has tried to reconcile three views of
Clara?her own, her lover's, and the narrator's. Notes that he has
created large, complicated people with generous hearts and
considered views on everything. Concludes that the fable of the
stolen ring is "strong enough to sweep them up in its
currents."
Marin, Rick. Rev. of A Theft American Spectator July 1989: 47–48.
Complains that
this long story, or short novel, never gets great, but is
nevertheless worth reading. Describes the characters, and
comments that Bellow's description of Clara Velde suggests she
looks much like Bellow himself and is literally a woman after his
own heart, "powerful and rich in her middle age." Finds Bellow
still railing about the fall of civilization?indiscriminate sex,
the criminal breed, and communism. Concludes that this is the
skeleton of a novel because the short form is unable to carry the
weight of the strong, powerful characters or Bellow's reactionary
polemics. Designates Bellow as a writer of big books, not little
ones.
MDdowell, Edwin. "Saul Bellow Tries a New Approach."
New York Times Sept. 22, 1988: C24
Mostly discusses the unusual publishing
history of this novella and Bellow's disgust with the state of
fiction in the magazines.
Comments that the
plot of AT has Krantzian-Robbinesque overtones. Suggests that
the book contains sudsy verbiage with enough subtleties of
thought and language to satisfy aficionados of serious
literature, and the boys back in Sweden.
Oates, Joyce Carol. "Bellow's Portraits." Where I've Been and Where I'm Going: Essays,
Reviews and Prose. New York: Plume,
157–60.
Oates, Joyce Carol. "Clara's Gift." New York Times Book Review 5 Mar. 1989: 3. Rpt. in Where I've Been and Where I'm Going: Essays,
Reviews, Prose. New York: Plume,
1999. 157–60.
Considers Bellow a
genius at portraiture. Describes his use of language and energy
in the service of his art, as well as his attempt to display,
admire, and analyze "the haunting contours and textures of the
physical world and the mystery of human personality in its
extraordinary variety." Compares the similarities and differences
between AT and previous works. Finds this work missing the
usual ground base in reality typical of Bellow, and sees Clara as
lacking sufficient intelligence for her position in life.
Concludes that Bellow, while noted as a realist, is really a
surrealist with an eye for the illuminatingly absurd.
Details the plot
and describes Clara Velde as less a high-fashion executive or
Bible-fed hick than the questing, self-analyzing, mouth-flapping
character that stands at the center of nearly all Bellow's work.
Comments that the talk seems sketchy at best, the story in a
peculiar hurry to end, and the lack of a material medium
responsible for depriving Bellow of his brilliant way with
figurative language, thus lessening the tension in each scene and
disembodying his characters. Concludes however, that even a
lesser work like AT is worth a slow, careful read.
Sees AT as another
Bellovian tale about a worldly intellectual suffering a
disorderly life, this time told from a female perspective.
Details the plot and concludes that this novel is not as tightly
constructed as SD, but that Clara Velde is an important and welcome
addition to his canon because she holds her own with the best of
Bellow's memorable men.
Prescott, Peter.
"Ringaround Park Avenue." Newsweek 20 Mar
1989: 80.
Describes Bellow's
history with the novella form and suggests that while AT may have its
problems, it is hard to dislike. Provides extensive plot summary
and notes that AT is
Bellow's light-handed "Ring of the Nibelung." Argues that the
major flaw consists of his not making Clara sufficiently
convincing as the Clausewitz of couture, even though she seems
curiously uncorrupted by her disordered life and has a most
engaging presence.
Pritchard, William H. "Realism without Magic." Hudson Review 42.3
(1989): 490.
Considers
AT to have
something verbally interesting on every page. Notes that, whereas
story and style are inseparable and function to produce maximum
pity and terror in SD, this novella doesn't get close to pity or
terror. Concludes that even its comedy seems oddly restrained and
muted.
Quinn, Anthony. "Clara's
Conversion." New Statesman &
Society 31 Mar. 1989: 35.
Calls AT a slight story about a large
woman?a restrained, but not a subdued book. Comments that it
reads like a gentle sojourn after the wintry chill of Bellow's
recent excursions.
Calls the prose of AT quick, dean, and
minus lyrical description. Connects Clara Velde with Demmie
Vonghel of HG. Notes that, while Clara has no theories, she does
have mettle, wit, and a gift for the dashing phrase. Sees AT as
an engrossing exercise in which New York has never seemed so
lonely, or its people so confined to such private bubbles. Calls
this his least gloomy book because it is full of freshness and
audacity and comes from the most vital novelist in English now at
work.
Raskin, Jonah. "Ring Around a Soap Opera." San Francisco Chronicle 5 Mar. 1989: sec Reviews: 3–4.
Timson, Judith. "It
Takes a Thief." Maclean's
24 Apr. 1989:66.
Comments
that AT is a daring, quirky book?witty, thoughtful, filled
with memorable lines, but curiously devoid of soul.
Towers, Robert. "Mystery Women." New York Review of Books 27 Apr. 1989: 50–52.
Comments on the
typical composite of the Bellow females and notes that they are
never mediated except through the male protagonist's eyes.
Contrasts this with the portrayal of Clara Velde who comes
relatively unmediated and yet is still related to the earlier
women. Concludes that what charm this little undernourished book
possesses lies in its language, even though the net effect is
skimpy.
Updike, John. "NiceTries." New
Yorker 1 May 1989:113–14.
Provides brief
remarks about the gender issues raised in the novel, the chief
characters, Bellow's lively thematic explorations, his solicitude
for his characters, and his energized scope.
Johnson, Greg. "Bellow's
'Theft' Is a Deft, Contained Work." Atlanta Journal/Constitution 2 Apr. 1989: N 10.
Calls this novella "vintage Saul
Bellow, funny, deft, absorbing, simultaneously a novel of ideas
and a penetrating character study." Calls Clara Velde, his first
woman protagonist, one of his most memorable characters, and then
discusses the theft of the emerald as the central event of the
plot. Notes that we are spared Bellow's drawn-out intellectual
discussions that padded MDH and the meanderings of DD. Finds the
fast pacing and wry humor of AT more akin to SD. Concludes that
this is one of Bellow's finest works of fiction.
Banville, John. "Altogether Different; and Her Tears Seem a
Celebration.." London Review of Books 30 Mar. 1989: 21.
Argues that
AT has the
coherence and tension of a furled flower. Describes it as packed
with color and gaiety, minus tendentiousness and the hectoring
tones of the earlier novels. Describes Clara Velde and the other
characters in considerable detail. Concludes that this is a late
book with a touch of Autumn in it.
Benedictus, David. "109-Page Culture." Punch 10 March
1989: 66.
Witty
mock-dialogue in which Bellow and a fictional literary agent
discuss the plot and significance of AT.
"Bookshelf." Wall Street
Journa114 Mar. 1989: A22.
Claims that this
narrative lumbers along intelligently to a happy ending. Calls
the book a richly dressed little failure that should interest
readers of the New
Yorker, Esquire,
and Atlantic. Sees the plot as a series of one-way
conversations Clara holds with her confidante, Laura Wong.
Suggests, however, that these monologues, do not sparkle like
those of Bellow's brilliant male talkers. Concludes that
"oomphless narcissism" is as good as AT gets.
Boyers, Robert. "Losing Grip on Specifics." Times Literary Supplement 24–30 Mar. 1989: 299.
Finds the tension
in AT as that between creatureliness and ideas, the
uncertainty about what really happens in life. But claims
that AT lacks the specifics to "convey the material
density of a world or the texture of experience," and complains
that what specifics there are seem made up. Also complains that
the story is hard to take seriously because of two
factors?Clara's hysteria over losing a ring, and her textually
unverified motherly absorption with children?are unbelievable.
Yet claims that the story is compelling in other ways because of
the level of wit, language, and free play of intelligence.
Although lacking the "heightened dialectical fervor" of his great
novels, the reviewer argues, AT has his
unmistakable "rosy and idiomatic prose." Sees the book as a work
of self-limitation in which Bellow wants to see how far he can go
with the bare bones of an almost trivial story-line and thoughts
that are at best suggestive.
Brookner, Anita. "Ring of Falsehood." Spectator 15 Apr.
1989: 29–30.
Provides an
extensive plot summary. Asserts that Clara Velde becomes the
occasion of a story about a passionate woman who failed to marry
the man of her choice, and reveals little more about herself than
the contents of her undistinguished mind. Claims that
AT could
have been a story in higher confusion but in fact is not.
First synopsizes
many of the reviewers of AT and then sets
out to argue that too much has been made of Clara as a female
protagonist. Considers that, as in so many of Bellow's works, the
plot of this novella is subordinate to the author's interest in
character. Considers AT
an intimate and detailed exploration of
Clara Velde's soul. Considers it a marvelous work that reveals
Bellow's genius and fine wit.
Cheuse, Alan. "Saul Bellow's Ring of Truth." Chicago Tribune Books 5 Mar. 1989: 1, 4.
Briefly describes
the plot with its central focus, the theft, and its effect on the
protagonist, Clara Velde. Describes her in some detail along with
Ithiel Regler, her lover, and other characters. Finds vintage
Bellow here with "effervescent mental conversation, the urbane,
sophisticated, supple and idiosyncratic banter of ideas.., about
child abuse, psychiatry, international politics, culture, life,
love, youth, and age." Concludes that this is "a special sort of
humane entertainment" created by Bellow's rigor of heart and
mind.
Conarroe, Joel. "The Laureate's Latest, on Love." Washington Post 24
Feb. 1989: C3.
Describes the uniqueness of Bellow's quality paperback publishing
venture for this novel, the major characters, his mix of
"cerebral tonalities and vernacular jazz," and his usual practice
of casting" a cool and amused eye on the quips and cranks of
American life." Concludes that readers will read this engaging
tale to the end and not just display it on the shelf, which he
suspects they do with most of his idea-filled novels.
Eder, Richard. "Love in Gogmagogsville." Los Angeles Times Book Review 19 Mar. 1989: 3.
Discusses the theme, characters, and
conflicts of the story, finding its center the dual between Clara
Velde and Ithiel Regler through whom Bellow says more than he
tells. Finds the book slapdash and many characters only sketched.
Argues that this also applies even to Clara, for whom the book
contains only notes for what could become a memorable character.
Concludes that the book is "scrappy?in both senses?amiable, an
amiable mess, and sometimes just a mess."
Feeney, Mark. "What Made Frederic Seize the Ring?" Boston Globe 5
Feb. 1989: 86, 88.
Calls AT a book with
ugly moral undercurrents of racism because its picture of the
city as a dark, threatening ethnic jungle is presented neither
with subtlety nor differentiation. Complains that the book chugs
along in ungainly fashion toward no particular destination.
Concludes that this is that rarest of volumes in the Bellow
canon: an unmemorable book.
Fender, Stephen. "Hero into Heroine." Manchester Guardian Weekly 23 Apr. 1989: 30.
Provides an
interpretive character study of Clara Velde and concludes that
the book seems to exist mainly on the discursive level of the
suburban dinner party. Complains that it is difficult to remember
for long because it is too short to engage the reader
strenuously. Furthermore it is insufficiently crystalline to
stand as a parable.
"Fiction." Jim Kobak's Kirkus
Review 1 Aug. 1989: 1087.
Argues that
AT is
steadily intriguing and crisply told, yet oddly lacking in
resonance and conviction. Claims that Bellow works hard to invest
this anecdotal material with Jamesian layers of morality and
psychology, but that Clara and Teddy remain an assemblage of
striking attitudes
States that
AT left him
cold, because Clara Velde is uncompelling and because the book
lacks both humor and wisdom. Appreciates Ithiel Regler's rogue
value in the cannon, but insists that the story falls flat for
lack of tension and significat content. Details the plot, and
describes the various relationship that Clara is engaged in, most
of which are not presented in their full dramatic potential.
Suggests there is a dramatic vacuum at the center of the story
which derives from Bellow's failure to proper present the
relationship between Gina and Clara. Criticizes the stilted
dialogue, idiosyncratic slang, and the good-girl, bad-girl
characters. Wonders if the novella is a misstep of Bellow's age
and dismisses the idea by considering that this late
efflorescence from a great storyteller one can only compare to
Melville's Billy Budd.
Gray, Paul. "An Old Master in Soft-Covers." Time 6 Mar. 1989:
70.
Describes the publishing history of AT and calls its
characters astoundingly vibrant and intelligent. Comments that,
for a modest outlay, readers can buy an original work of art: a
world-class author producing a tale that is thoroughly typical
and engagingly new rather than fully drawn, believable
characters.
Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher. "Saul Bellow's Small Book of
Outsized Characters." New York
Times 2 Mar. 1989: C23.
Sees Clara Velde, the protagonist, as outsized and
contradictory. Describes her character, her relationship with
Ithiel Regler, and the impact on her of the theft of the emerald
ring. Concludes that Bellow has tried to reconcile three views of
Clara?her own, her lover's, and the narrator's. Notes that he has
created large, complicated people with generous hearts and
considered views on everything. Concludes that the fable of the
stolen ring is "strong enough to sweep them up in its
currents."
Marin, Rick. Rev. of A Theft American Spectator July 1989: 47–48.
Complains that
this long story, or short novel, never gets great, but is
nevertheless worth reading. Describes the characters, and
comments that Bellow's description of Clara Velde suggests she
looks much like Bellow himself and is literally a woman after his
own heart, "powerful and rich in her middle age." Finds Bellow
still railing about the fall of civilization?indiscriminate sex,
the criminal breed, and communism. Concludes that this is the
skeleton of a novel because the short form is unable to carry the
weight of the strong, powerful characters or Bellow's reactionary
polemics. Designates Bellow as a writer of big books, not little
ones.
MDdowell, Edwin. "Saul Bellow Tries a New Approach."
New York Times Sept. 22, 1988: C24
Mostly discusses the unusual publishing
history of this novella and Bellow's disgust with the state of
fiction in the magazines.
Comments that the
plot of AT has Krantzian-Robbinesque overtones. Suggests that
the book contains sudsy verbiage with enough subtleties of
thought and language to satisfy aficionados of serious
literature, and the boys back in Sweden.
Oates, Joyce Carol. "Bellow's Portraits." Where I've Been and Where I'm Going: Essays,
Reviews and Prose. New York: Plume,
157–60.
Oates, Joyce Carol. "Clara's Gift." New York Times Book Review 5 Mar. 1989: 3. Rpt. in Where I've Been and Where I'm Going: Essays,
Reviews, Prose. New York: Plume,
1999. 157–60.
Considers Bellow a
genius at portraiture. Describes his use of language and energy
in the service of his art, as well as his attempt to display,
admire, and analyze "the haunting contours and textures of the
physical world and the mystery of human personality in its
extraordinary variety." Compares the similarities and differences
between AT and previous works. Finds this work missing the
usual ground base in reality typical of Bellow, and sees Clara as
lacking sufficient intelligence for her position in life.
Concludes that Bellow, while noted as a realist, is really a
surrealist with an eye for the illuminatingly absurd.
Details the plot
and describes Clara Velde as less a high-fashion executive or
Bible-fed hick than the questing, self-analyzing, mouth-flapping
character that stands at the center of nearly all Bellow's work.
Comments that the talk seems sketchy at best, the story in a
peculiar hurry to end, and the lack of a material medium
responsible for depriving Bellow of his brilliant way with
figurative language, thus lessening the tension in each scene and
disembodying his characters. Concludes however, that even a
lesser work like AT is worth a slow, careful read.
Sees AT as another
Bellovian tale about a worldly intellectual suffering a
disorderly life, this time told from a female perspective.
Details the plot and concludes that this novel is not as tightly
constructed as SD, but that Clara Velde is an important and welcome
addition to his canon because she holds her own with the best of
Bellow's memorable men.
Prescott, Peter.
"Ringaround Park Avenue." Newsweek 20 Mar
1989: 80.
Describes Bellow's
history with the novella form and suggests that while AT may have its
problems, it is hard to dislike. Provides extensive plot summary
and notes that AT is
Bellow's light-handed "Ring of the Nibelung." Argues that the
major flaw consists of his not making Clara sufficiently
convincing as the Clausewitz of couture, even though she seems
curiously uncorrupted by her disordered life and has a most
engaging presence.
Pritchard, William H. "Realism without Magic." Hudson Review 42.3
(1989): 490.
Considers
AT to have
something verbally interesting on every page. Notes that, whereas
story and style are inseparable and function to produce maximum
pity and terror in SD, this novella doesn't get close to pity or
terror. Concludes that even its comedy seems oddly restrained and
muted.
Quinn, Anthony. "Clara's
Conversion." New Statesman &
Society 31 Mar. 1989: 35.
Calls AT a slight story about a large
woman?a restrained, but not a subdued book. Comments that it
reads like a gentle sojourn after the wintry chill of Bellow's
recent excursions.
Calls the prose of AT quick, dean, and
minus lyrical description. Connects Clara Velde with Demmie
Vonghel of HG. Notes that, while Clara has no theories, she does
have mettle, wit, and a gift for the dashing phrase. Sees AT as
an engrossing exercise in which New York has never seemed so
lonely, or its people so confined to such private bubbles. Calls
this his least gloomy book because it is full of freshness and
audacity and comes from the most vital novelist in English now at
work.
Raskin, Jonah. "Ring Around a Soap Opera." San Francisco Chronicle 5 Mar. 1989: sec Reviews: 3–4.
Timson, Judith. "It
Takes a Thief." Maclean's
24 Apr. 1989:66.
Comments
that AT is a daring, quirky book?witty, thoughtful, filled
with memorable lines, but curiously devoid of soul.
Towers, Robert. "Mystery Women." New York Review of Books 27 Apr. 1989: 50–52.
Comments on the
typical composite of the Bellow females and notes that they are
never mediated except through the male protagonist's eyes.
Contrasts this with the portrayal of Clara Velde who comes
relatively unmediated and yet is still related to the earlier
women. Concludes that what charm this little undernourished book
possesses lies in its language, even though the net effect is
skimpy.
Updike, John. "NiceTries." New
Yorker 1 May 1989:113–14.
Provides brief
remarks about the gender issues raised in the novel, the chief
characters, Bellow's lively thematic explorations, his solicitude
for his characters, and his energized scope.
