Farewell To A Friend

Two tentative definitions to begin with. The novel today is a hybrid form: it is part social inquiry, part fantasy, part confessional. It crosses frontiers of knowledge as well as typographical boundaries. Plot, character, setting, theme are the enemies of the novel now. But structure _ verbal and logical coherence _ is still the largest concern of the writer: relating an event, recurring images and recurring action. These constitute the essential substance of a novel. Ultimately, a novel has to be judged by its lyrical qualities rather than conventional narrative criteria.

A memoir is not strictly speaking an autobiography. It is an accountof a writer's relationship with the very interesting person(s) he/she had the good fortune to meet up with. A memoir is autobiography without the risk not only of laying oneself bare to public view but of exposing o neself as essentially a dull and therefore pompous person. By writing a memoir rather than an autobiography the author can easily retreat behind the retort: " Well, I found it interesting."

 

You need to bear these two definitions in mind when you read Saul Bellow's latest novel, Ravelstein ( Viking, Special Indian Price,