Mosby's Memoirs and Other Stories

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Saul Bellow's great novels have made him famous, and alongside them, the stories in this collection establish him as a master of short prose. In these stories, we encounter Bellow's central themes: the struggle of man with himself and the challenges of the world. The elderly Hattie fights against aging and the temptations of alcohol in her house in the Utah desert, while Rogin in "A Future Father" struggles to accept the quirks of his future wife. In "In Search of Mr. Green," the protagonist faces numerous obstacles in the Chicago depression while distributing welfare checks in the Black neighborhood. A young literary researcher searching for Gonzaga's manuscripts in Spain also confronts the unpredictable behavior of those around him. "The Old System" tells a tragicomic story of a Jewish family and their self-destructive hatred. In the titular story "Mosby's Memoirs," a diplomat and professor reflects on his failures during his stay in Mexico. Bellow's characters and their world are portrayed with thoughtful empathy for humanity, and through his sharp humor and subtle irony, fascinating narratives emerge that are described as "Chekhovian studies of individual life."