Interpretation
| "But I would rather see Ravelstein again than to explain matters it doesn't help to explain..."
"You don't easily give up a creature like Ravelstein to death." - Saul Bellow, Ravelstein |
Bellow asks, via inference, in Ravelstein, how one is best remembered: for contributions to general knowledge; for contributions to humanity via the treatment of one's friends, intimates, and strangers; or for having attracted mass attention and a notoriety which thereafter decays. That last theme is poignantly exhibited in two instances: early on, in a chance encounter between Ravelstein and Chick and pop star Michael Jackson (and entourage) at Paris' Hotel Crillon, and later, when Ravelstein recalls having followed Elizabeth Taylor through an airport terminal in a sudden (and brief) obsession.
| “ | At Idlewild, once, he had spotted Elizabeth Taylor and for the better part of an hour tracked her through the crowds. It especially pleased him to have recognized her. Because she was so faded, it took some doing. She seemed to know that her glamour was gone. | ” |
Bellow, in Ravelstein, reveals the crossing paths of purpose and truth in the trajectories of remembrance. In this pattern of coming and going, Bellow seems to imply, the best recollection of a man is a complete depiction of complication and chance painted against the higher ambition of an authentically shared existence.
Read more about this topic: Ravelstein, Literary Significance and Criticism