Take a photo of a barcode or cover
bonnieg 's review for:
Henderson the Rain King
by Saul Bellow
In my favorite Bullwinkle cartoon that greatest of Moosylvanian mooses joins the Peace Corps. As he struggles to engage the African villagers in learning to build wells they are working on a secret project of their own. We eventually find they are building a rocket to blast Bullwinkle into space. I thought about that a lot as I read Henderson the Rain King. Jay Ward, the creator of the cartoon series, was skeptical of America's world's savior post-war aspirations and delighted in skewering the very idea of American supremacy. I grew up watching Bullwinkle reruns and perhaps as a result when I first read this book, in the 80s I think, I loved it. Since then my worldview has changed some, and my tastes as a reader have changed wildly. There is still a lot to revere in this book, but it did not live up to my memories.
Briefly, Eugene Henderson is a bumbling rich fool, a graduate of Princeton largely because of his wealth (it certainly is not due to his intellectual facility.) He was the least distinguished of three children of an accomplished physician, and the only one to survive to adulthood. He thereby becomes the head of the family, much to his father's chagrin. Henderson is a large man in every way and he throws around his gigantic personality, his enormous wealth, and his monumental physical size as bullies do. He is cruel, clueless, destructive and inconstant, and boy does he dislike women (as it is clear in every book Bellow did) and golly gee is he racist and does he ever fetishize blackness? Henderson's roots are very different than Bellow's, but in many ways I suspect Henderson is quite like Bellow. I suspect that because there is no satirical remove when Bellow talks about Henderson's relationships to women or to the African characters (even when he is discussing the size of black women's asses.) If I am right about this, and we are seeing Bellow in the Henderson character, it must be said that it appears Bellow was a right prick. Eventually, Henderson gets it into his head that he needs to find himself so he leaves his wife and many children and jets off to Africa with loads of money and vanity but no preparation or clear purpose. There he finds out who he is his after his arrogance causes calamity and he meets a tribal king named Dahfu who is educated, brilliant, and also despotic and insane in a lot of the same ways Henderson is despotic and insane. Suffice to say his impressions of what he has done and learned in Africa through experience and lengthy discussions with Dahfu on the meaning of life (mostly these are metaphysical discussions) may differ from the reader's impressions.
Henderson is a loudmouth, and his are the eyes we see this through. As a result, there is nothing in the way of pretty or elegant language here. There is a lot of bluster and misinformation. That though paints the picture of this character, and what a character! Yes, this is satire so there is a lot of exaggeration, but Henderson at his heart feels pretty real. Being vile does not mean one is not entertaining and edifying. Henderson is both. Bellow certainly knows how to write.
I really try not to judge literature by my own political and social beliefs or by social norms that did not exist when books were written. I think Bellow accomplished what he wished to accomplish and did so brilliantly, but I had a really hard time enjoying this after the action moved to Africa. Apparently, when I read this 40 years ago I was more intellectual in my reading, or maybe I just brought less life experience to the task. This is 5-star craft, but I can't go higher than a 3 when I factor in my enjoyment and the absence of the timelessness I hope to find in books considered modern classics.
Briefly, Eugene Henderson is a bumbling rich fool, a graduate of Princeton largely because of his wealth (it certainly is not due to his intellectual facility.) He was the least distinguished of three children of an accomplished physician, and the only one to survive to adulthood. He thereby becomes the head of the family, much to his father's chagrin. Henderson is a large man in every way and he throws around his gigantic personality, his enormous wealth, and his monumental physical size as bullies do. He is cruel, clueless, destructive and inconstant, and boy does he dislike women (as it is clear in every book Bellow did) and golly gee is he racist and does he ever fetishize blackness? Henderson's roots are very different than Bellow's, but in many ways I suspect Henderson is quite like Bellow. I suspect that because there is no satirical remove when Bellow talks about Henderson's relationships to women or to the African characters (even when he is discussing the size of black women's asses.) If I am right about this, and we are seeing Bellow in the Henderson character, it must be said that it appears Bellow was a right prick. Eventually, Henderson gets it into his head that he needs to find himself so he leaves his wife and many children and jets off to Africa with loads of money and vanity but no preparation or clear purpose. There he finds out who he is his after his arrogance causes calamity and he meets a tribal king named Dahfu who is educated, brilliant, and also despotic and insane in a lot of the same ways Henderson is despotic and insane. Suffice to say his impressions of what he has done and learned in Africa through experience and lengthy discussions with Dahfu on the meaning of life (mostly these are metaphysical discussions) may differ from the reader's impressions.
Henderson is a loudmouth, and his are the eyes we see this through. As a result, there is nothing in the way of pretty or elegant language here. There is a lot of bluster and misinformation. That though paints the picture of this character, and what a character! Yes, this is satire so there is a lot of exaggeration, but Henderson at his heart feels pretty real. Being vile does not mean one is not entertaining and edifying. Henderson is both. Bellow certainly knows how to write.
I really try not to judge literature by my own political and social beliefs or by social norms that did not exist when books were written. I think Bellow accomplished what he wished to accomplish and did so brilliantly, but I had a really hard time enjoying this after the action moved to Africa. Apparently, when I read this 40 years ago I was more intellectual in my reading, or maybe I just brought less life experience to the task. This is 5-star craft, but I can't go higher than a 3 when I factor in my enjoyment and the absence of the timelessness I hope to find in books considered modern classics.