Saul Bellow, 89, Professor Emeritus in the Committee on Social Thought

Photo: Saul Bellow Please click here to view more photos of Saul Bellow. Press Citations: “Saul Bellow's Novels Tackled Life's Contradictions” April 6, 2005 “Literary titan Saul Bellow dies” April 6, 2005 “Saul Bellow, Who Breathed Life Into American Novel, Dies at 89” April 6, 2005 “Author Saul Bellow dies at 89” April 6, 2005 “Saul Bellow, giant of American literature, dies at 89” April 6, 2005 “Saul Bellow” April 6, 2005 “Nobel laureate Saul Bellow dies at 89” New York Newsday April 6, 2005 “Nobel laureate Saul Bellow dies” April 5, 2005

Saul Bellow, Professor Emeritus in the Committee on Social Thought, a Nobel laureate in literature, and one of the most influential American novelists of the 20th Century, died on April 5th, at his home in Brookline, Mass. He was 89.

A member of the University of Chicago faculty for more than 30 years, Bellow centered his fictional universe in Chicago, his hometown. Bellow, the Raymond W. and Martha Hilpert Gruner Distinguished Service Professor in the Committee on Social Thought and the Department of English at Chicago authored more than a dozen critically acclaimed novels and works of nonfiction, including Herzog, Humboldt’s Gift, Mr. Sammler’s Planet and The Adventures of Augie March. One of the most honored American writers of his era, Bellow won the 1976 Nobel Prize for literature, a Pulitzer Prize, three National Book Awards, and a Presidential medal.

“In my view, Saul Bellow was one of the greatest of the great writers,” said Wayne Booth, the George M. Pullman Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in the Department of English, and a longtime colleague of Bellow’s. “His works moved me extremely, especially Mr. Sammler’s Planet. I can remember feeling that this work really reminded me of what powers fiction can have.”

Bellow taught at Chicago from 1962 to 1993 in the Committee on Social Thought, and attended the College in the 1930s.