Humboldt's Gift

Humboldt's Gift is a 1975 novel by Canadian-American author Saul Bellow. He won the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. In the same year, Bellow received the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Plot

The novel, which Bellow originally conceived as a short story, is the story of Bellow's friendship with the poet Delmore Schwartz. He explores the changing relationship of art and power in materialistic America. This theme is addressed through the opposing careers of two writers, von Humboldt Fleischer and his protégé Charlie Citrine (to some extent a version of Bellow himself). Fleischer seeks to uplift American society through the arts, but fails. In contrast, Charlie Citrine makes a lot of money from his writings, especially Broadway plays and films about a character named Von Trenk, a character modeled after Fleischer.

Another notable character in the book is Rinaldo Cantabile, a copycat Chicago gangster who tries to get Citrine to make friends. Because his career advice to Citrine is commercially tied, it is in stark contrast to that of Citrine's former mentor, Humboldt Fleischer, who prioritizes artistic integrity.

Perception

Humboldt's Gift won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1976, Bellow's first entry after three previous entries were finalists. In the novel, Humboldt says, and Citrine agrees, that the prize is "a fictitious newspaper advertising award given by swindlers and illiterates". When asked about the description after receiving the prize, Bellow laughed and said he would accept the award "in dignified silence."