“And this is the unwritten history of man, his unseen, negative accomplishment, his power to do without gratification for himself provided there is something great, something into which his being, and all beings can go. He does not need meaning as long as such intensity has scope. Because then it is self-evident; it is meaning.”

Canadian and American writer

Saul Bellow was a Canadian and American writer whose work made him one of the central figures in 20th century fiction. He lived from 1915 to 2005 and was recognized with major literary honors, including the Pulitzer Prize, the 1976 Nobel Prize in Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only writer to have won the National Book Award for Fiction three times, and in 1990 he received the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. His reputation rests on fiction that probes modern life, identity, and the pressures placed on individuals by society and thought.