SAUL BELLOW’S QUEST HERO – HENDERSON THE RAIN KING

Abstract

Endless striving for ‘human redemption’ seems to be the underlying motif of Saul Bellow’s novels, and most of his protagonists are in search of enhanced meaning in their life. Critics have called Henderson the Rain King a “quest-romance” that takes the protagonist to Africa, a place that Bellow had not yet visited. This study makes an attempt of how the gigantic, blustering, crazed, and comic Henderson testifies to Bellow’s remarkable creative diversity. Henderson itself is a triumph of the imagination, with its marvelous descriptions of a purely fictive Africa, an Africa of the soul. For all the exoticism of the events, the writing is as tough and witty as in the earlier books. Henderson, who tells his own story as Augie did, uses an even more flavourful language. Despite his comic blunderings and bull-headedness, he is an appealing figure. And despite the fantastic setting, the central character is capable of deeper emotional attachment to people and objects than has been true in the preceding books.