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A Silver Dish by Saul Bellow

Introduction

Saul Bellow was born into a family Jewish, originally from St. Petersburg, immigrated to Canada in 1913. There, he changed his surname from Belo Bellows. His father, Abram Bellows, use to import fabrics, and use to do street trading. His mother, Lescha Gordin, had three children, born in Russia, before emigration: Zelda, Movscha and Schmule, respectively 9, 7 and 4 years older than Saul. In 1918, his family moved to Saint Dominique Street, where Saul in 1923 became ill with pneumonia and peritonitis (Clayton, pp. 159-171). He passed his six months at the Royal Victoria Hospital because of his disease. The difficult economic conditions did not help his family; thus, his father smuggled liquor for a period with the United States. In 1924, his father went to Chicago, like many metropolitan cities in the U.S. at the time, underwent profound changes in urban, and drew hundreds of thousands of immigrants, especially from Europe. He worked at the bakery of his cousin Louis Dworkin.

In the story “A Silver Dish”, Bellow's text indicates the inclusion of this aspect in the character. In fact, the character conception of Woody Selbst, after his rebirth resulting from the central struggle, coincides with Jakob Burckhardt's famous interpretation of Renaissance man, who "was for the first time flesh and blood and an individual being." This "Renaissance courtier" discovers and enjoys the world fully by frequent travels, and he sleeps at the "Tawaraya Inn, dating from the seventeenth century or so." He subscribes to Science and other magazines "that gave real information." Like Renaissance man, Woody strives for an all-round education, demonstrates religious tolerance, and takes a genuine interest in the past. In agreement with the humanistic emphasis on classical languages, Woody knows his Greek. As a young seminarian, he studies New Testament Greek: "The light shineth in darkness--to fos en te skotia fainei--and the darkness comprehended it not." Quotations from Greek or Latin in a text was a standard convention in Renaissance literature.

Discussion

Critics agree that "A Silver Dish" ("SD"), first published in The New Yorker (1978), is one of the best stories Bellow has ever written. This is in part the result of the story's genesis. Unpublished story fragments at the Regenstein Library of the University of Chicago, which I was able to identify as early versions of "SD," give evidence that Bellow started out with character sketches taken from real life, disregarding any artistic considerations or plot (Bach, pp. 26-42). Based on this primary foundation of real life experience, the complex artistry of the finished story seems to have grown out of the new invention of a highly focused plot: a father's theft and the resulting struggle between a father and a son. Since Woody's "renaissance" is the core of this character conception, the Renaissance aspect is not just an added feature of this character.

Rather in keeping with his artistic credo that the style has to conform to the picture Bellow integrates basic modes of vision of the European Renaissance ...