Saul Bellow Reads From Humboldt’s Gift and Henderson the Rain King

[@eleanordavis2795]

How is it possible to write like this? What joy- especially read by him.

[@BigThinky]

The Smolak parts from Henderson the Rain King are some of my favourite writing. Those final paragraphs on his reading, around the 48min mark are so tender for that book, always catches me off-guard.

[@thecookiechannel7083]

Listening to Bellow read Humbolt has redeemed the internet. Thank you.

[@dvrath334]

‘A filth artillery fired silently into the sky’ man it’s just so damn good

[@lukesavva1494]

He reads this way to savour the patterns in his prose, I should imagine. He can't be beat for rhythm, it swings with Yiddishisms.

[@melissasalsbury4705]

In high school I was taken with P.G. Wodehouse. Then, during my twenties, I was in love with Tom Wolfe. Now, I long to hear more Saul Bellow.

[@bevaconme]

you made it. you're here.

[@patrickbrennan2864]

Just wonderful He “got his start” by meeting and liking eccentrics in his county; “more than you could shake a stick at” .....”so I assembled my own eccentric, from available parts.......and this gave me my start” (From His HoSoPolitico reading and audience questions- it’s on KZbin)

[@ChengManChing]

I'm amazed at how much I remember from this excerpt... Love the Humboldt half of HG, as opposed to most of the contemporary parts of the story (especially the Cantabile character) - the contemporary half of the novel manifesting "I''m a comic novelist" to its detriment. Remember when mad Humboldt forgets where he parked the Buick? "For a while I drove a hell of an automobile." Remember Charlie's opinion of their Princeton sponsor's literary prowess (based on R. P. Blackmur), "Do the deaf tune pianos?" And, "Maybe Harry Truman will give us asylum in Missouri" (after the Ike win)? What a writer...

[@ArronSturgeonPaintings-so2xc]

Wow.

[@sapereaude3748]

No novelist I want to read after Bellow....

[@steveluttrell7816]

Oh , Delmore . You pure paranoid genius

[@charlespeterson3798]

Is it by accident that America is tottering on the edge of lunacy and no one has a comment on a this?

[@patrickbrennan2864]

Most haven’t heard it....so it might lead to incorrect conclusions about those who haven’t

[@nickowchar2001]

The whole Q and A section sounds so quaint and smug. His comments on the problems with U.S. politics belong to a different world: if he were alive today, Bellow wouldn’t be able to handle the insanity happening now.

[@doccreed658]

This is one of my favorite portions of 'Humboldt's Gift' but I hate Bellow's dispassionate, insipid reading of it. Is this the tone and pacing with which he reads from all his books? I've listened to him in interviews and I've been enthralled, so my complaint isn't with his voice. He reads like a man awakened at 3am and forced by gun point to read something.

[@josephbailey4249]

Amen to that. Have you ever listened to recordings of Wallace Stevens reading his own poetry ?

[@patrickbrennan2864]

I think it’s wonderful - Charles Keating reading “Farrell’s Caddie “, however, is masterful - as is Christina Pickles reading “Chivalry” (both from Selected Shorts)