003 Humboldt's Gift

Now on p.120 of Saul Bellow's Humboldt's Gift. Saul is a Nobel winner and HG won the Pulitzer so its a 2 for 1. (New York: The Viking Press) 1975.

HB is concentrated self-apologizing high snot. It's about poets and writers finding meaning in life. Consistent name dropping. Proust, Hegel, Marx, Durkheim, Balzac and tons I've never heard of. Need I say more?

Fine you egg me. Charlie Citrine, a famous writer (won the Pulitzer) living in Chicago, now an old man, is haunted by his mentor, Von Humboldt Fleisher, who died poor and crazy. Charlie is made to be so smart that he feels guilty having a Mercedes and from getting kicks from hanging out with petty criminals (read proles). He knows capitalism/ disparity of wealth is bad from a lifetime of reading philosophical/ literary/ revolutionary books but still enjoys what money can buy.

Hey you educated, rich people! Got Guilt? Read HG to soothe yourself! An intellectual knows your pains!

It gets better. While alive Humboldt despises Charlie for being rich and insults him (p.3):

They gave Citrine a Pulitzer prize for his book on Wilson and Tumulty. The Pultizer is for the birds -- for the pullets. It's just a dummy newspaper publicity award given by coorks and illiterates. You become a walking Pulitzer ad, so even when you croak the first words of the obituary are 'Pulitzer prizewinner passes.'"

I'll spin this for you, the people in the book (author too) are above awards. The prize givers are unworthy to judges. They just don't get it -- can't get it. This reeks of high High Snot. Who can judge then? People that have read all of the above plus more?

But then again, how I be so nasty to Saul especially since his opinion applies aptly to this crappy Pulitzer winner.