Audiobooks by Saul Bellow

A collection of treasured stories by the unchallenged master of American fiction Nobel Prize winner Saul Bellow has deservedly been celebrated as one of America's greatest writers. For more than sixty years he stretched our minds, our imaginations, and our hearts with his exhilarating perceptions of life. Here, collected in one volume and chosen by the author himself, are favorites such as "What Kind of Day Did You Have?" "Leaving the Yellow House," and a previously uncollected piece, "By the St. Lawrence." With his larger-than-life characters, irony, wisdom, and unique humor, Bellow presents a sharp, rich, and funny world that is infinitely surprising. With a preface by Janice Bellow and an introduction by James Wood, this is a collection to treasure for longtime Saul Bellow fans and an excellent introduction for new readers.

Saul Bellow (Author), Arthur Morey, Dawn Harvey, Donald Corren, Elisabeth Rodgers, Grover Gardner, Joe Barrett, Kate Reading, Malcolm Hillgartner, Richard Poe, Robert Fass, Sean Runnette, Suzanne Toren (Narrator)

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Mr. Sammler's Planet

Mr. Artur Sammler is, above all, a man who has lasted, from the civilized pleasures of English life in the 1920s and 30s through the war and death camps in Poland. Moving now through the chaotic and dangerous streets of New York's Upper West Side, Mr. Sammler is attentive to everything, and appalled by nothing. He brings the same dispassionate curiosity to the activities of a black pickpocket on an uptown bus, the details of his niece Angela's sex life, and his daughter's lunacy as he does to the extraordinary theories of one Dr. V. Govinda Lal on the use we are to make of the moon now that we have reached it. Beneath this novel's comedy, sadness, shocking action, and superb character-drawing there runs a strain of speculation, both daring and serene, on the future of life on this planet-Mr. Sammler's planet-and any other planets for which we may be destined.

Saul Bellow (Author), George Guidall (Narrator)

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Ravelstein

Abe Ravelstein is a brilliant professor at a prominent midwestern university and a man who glories in training the movers and shakers of the political world. He has lived grandly and ferociously-and much beyond his means. His close friend Chick has suggested that he put forth a book of his convictions about the ideas which sustain humankind, or kill it, and much to Ravelstein's own surprise, he does and becomes a millionaire. Ravelstein suggests in turn that Chick write a memoir or a life of him, and during the course of a celebratory trip to Paris the two share thoughts on mortality, philosophy and history, loves and friends, old and new, and vaudeville routines from the remote past. The mood turns more somber once they have returned to the Midwest and Ravelstein succumbs to AIDS and Chick himself nearly dies. Deeply insightful and always moving, Saul Bellow's novel is a journey through love and memory. It is brave, dark, and bleakly funny: an elegy to friendship and to lives well (or badly) lived.

Saul Bellow (Author), Richard Poe (Narrator)

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Henderson the Rain King

Saul Bellow evokes all the rich colors and exotic customs of a highly imaginary Africa in this acclaimed comic novel about a middle-aged American millionaire who, seeking a new, more rewarding life, descends upon an African tribe. Henderson's awesome feats of strength and his unbridled passion for life win him the admiration of the tribe-but it is his gift for making rain that turns him from mere hero into messiah. A hilarious, often ribald story, Henderson the Rain King is also a profound look at the forces that drive a man through life.

Saul Bellow (Author), Joe Barrett (Narrator)

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The Collected Essays of Ralph Ellison

Compiled, edited, and newly revised by Ralph Ellison's literary executor, John F. Callahan, this Modern Library Paperback Classic includes posthumously discovered reviews, criticism, and interviews, as well as the essay collections Shadow and Act (1964), hailed by Robert Penn Warren as "a body of cogent and subtle commentary on the questions that focus on race," and Going to the Territory (1986), an exploration of literature and folklore, jazz and culture, and the nature and quality of lives that black Americans lead. "Ralph Ellison," wrote Stanley Crouch, "reached across race, religion, class and sex to make us all Americans."

John F. Callahan, Ralph Ellison, Saul Bellow (Author), Arthur Morey, Dominic Hoffman (Narrator)

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More Die of Heartbreak

The tenth novel by Nobel and Pulitzer Prize–winning author Saul Bellow. Kenneth Trachtenberg, an eccentric and witty native of Paris, travels to the Midwest to spend time with his famous American uncle, a world-renowned botanist and self-described “plant visionary.” After numerous affairs and failed relationships, the restless Uncle Benn seeks a settled existence in the form of marriage—but tying the knot again opens the door to a host of new torments. Benn’s erotic tendencies and disastrous relationships lead him and Kenneth into a hilarious and wonderful romp through America’s mind-body dilemma—a journey in which Kenneth must also examine his own shortcomings with women. Philosophical and humorous, More Die of Heartbreak mercilessly examines the inner workings of a man in desperate pursuit of happiness. “Brilliant and funny.”—New York Times

Saul Bellow (Author), Ramiz Monsef (Narrator)

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Him with His Foot in His Mouth, and Other Stories

Him with His Foot in His Mouth, and Other Stories is a collection of short fiction from one of the most influential authors of the twentieth century. In the title piece, a musicologist awaiting extradition in British Columbia reflects on the events of his past that led to his criminal offense-beginning with a thoughtless insult he'd given over thirty years earlier. "What Kind of Day Did You Have?" explores the humorous conflicts in a single day in the lives of a divorcée and her lovers. Reanimating the Chicago of the past as only Bellow can, "Zetland: By a Character Witness" tells the story of the early life of a brilliant but eccentric artist. In "A Silver Dish" a man mourning his father recalls his memories of their relationship. And in "Cousins" a successful man is drawn into his cousin's life of criminal activities. Witty and at times emotional, Him with His Foot in His Mouth, and Other Stories is a must-have collection for all Bellow fans.

Saul Bellow (Author), Dawn Harvey, Grover Gardner, Joe Barrett, Sean Runnette (Narrator)

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The Dean’s December

Albert Corde is a professor of journalism and dean of students at a Chicago university. He and his wife, Minna, travel to Bucharest, Romania, where Minna’s mother has suffered a stroke and is lying semiconscious in the local state hospital. As Corde tries to adapt to life in his mother-in-law’s small apartment and cope with her relations and friends, news filters through to him of problems he left behind in Chicago: one of his students has been murdered, and a series of articles he is writing offends powerful and influential Chicagoans he had thought of as friends. Gradually it becomes clear that Corde’s trip abroad is more than a brief interlude in a calm and orderly life, and that nothing will ever be the same again. Witty and erudite, The Dean’s December will be a delight to fans of Saul Bellow. “[Bellow’s] most spirited resistance to the forces of our time.”—Malcolm Bradbury, author of The History Man

Saul Bellow (Author), Sean Runnette (Narrator)

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There Is Simply Too Much to Think About: Collected Nonfiction

A sweeping collection and a tribute to one of the most influential, daring, and visionary minds of the twentieth century The year 2015 marks several literary milestones: the centennial of Saul Bellow’s birth, the tenth anniversary of his death, and the publication of Zachary Leader’s much anticipated biography. Bellow—a Nobel laureate, Pulitzer Prize winner, and the only novelist to receive three National Book Awards—has long been regarded as one of America’s most cherished authors. Here, Benjamin Taylor, editor of the acclaimed Saul Bellow: Letters, presents lesser-known aspects of the iconic writer. Arranged chronologically, this literary time capsule displays the full extent of Bellow’s nonfiction, including criticism, interviews, speeches, and other reflections, tracing his career from his initial success as a novelist until the end of his life. Bringing together six classic pieces with an abundance of previously uncollected material, There Is Simply Too Much to Think About is a powerful reminder not only of Bellow’s genius but also of his enduring place in the Western canon, and it is sure to be widely reviewed and talked about for years to come. “Nobel Prize winner Bellow was a prolific writer of nonfiction: essays, reviews, interviews, talks, and memoirs. Organized by decade, the fifty-seven pieces in this volume, edited by Taylor, trace both Bellow’s writing career and his outspoken opinions on politics, literature, and intellectual life in America during the second half of the twentieth century.…This comprehensive collection illuminates Bellow’s sense of his own identity and his changing world.”—Kirkus Reviews

Saul Bellow (Author), Malcolm Hillgartner (Narrator)

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The Victim

In this unique noir masterpiece by the incomparable Saul Bellow, a young man is sucked into the mysterious, heat-filled vortex of New York City. Asa Leventhal, a temporary bachelor with his wife away on a visit to her mother, attempts to find relief from a Gotham heat wave only to be accosted in the park by a down-at-the-heels stranger who accuses Leventhal of ruining his life. Unable to shake the stranger, Leventhal is led by his own self-doubts and suspicions into a nightmare of paranoia and fear. "A kind of Dostoyevskian nightmare…written with unusual power and insight."-New York Times

Saul Bellow (Author), Joe Barrett (Narrator)

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Dangling Man

An essential masterwork by Nobel laureate Saul Bellow. Expecting to be inducted into the army during World War II, Joseph has given up his job and carefully prepared for his departure to the battlefront. When a series of mix-ups delays his induction, he finds himself facing a year of idleness. Written in diary format, Bellow's first novel documents Joseph's psychological reaction to his inactivity while war rages around him and his uneasy insights into the nature of freedom and choice. 'In this imaginative journal, set against fresh and vivid scenes in Chicago, the author has outlined what must seem to many others an uncannily accurate delineation of themselves.''New York Times

Saul Bellow (Author), Kirby Heyborne (Narrator)

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To Jerusalem and Back: A Personal Account

This extraordinary book is the result of Saul Bellow's sojourn in Israel in 1975. A personal record of his stay-his experiences and impressions-as well as a meditation, it crackles with wit and controversy on America's relationship with this embattled country. Using quick sketches and vignettes, Bellow captures the personal opinions, passions, and dreams of several Israelis, and he also adds to these his own reflections on being Jewish in the twentieth century. The varying viewpoints of those he encounters and interviews offer a revealing look at the history and challenges of Israel, and Bellow's passionate storytelling draws listeners in to share in his experience. "An impassioned and thoughtful book…Bellow delights in the liveliness, the gallantry of Israeli life-people on the edge of history, an inch from disaster, yet brimming with argument and words."-New York Times Book Review

Saul Bellow (Author), Malcolm Hillgartner (Narrator)

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