The Victim is a novel by Saul Bellow published in 1947. It is his second work. Along with his first novel Dangling Man, they are considered Bellow's "apprentice works", before he unleashed his true literary voice in The Adventures of Augie March. Looking back at his first two novels later in his career, Bellow "distanced himself from them by calling Dangling Man his M.A. and The Victim his Ph.D." Like many other Bellow stories, the protagonist is a Jewish man in early middle age. Leventhal lives in New York City. While his wife is away on family business, Leventhal is haunted by an old... acquaintance who unjustly claims that Leventhal has been the cause of his misfortune. The story explores the men's evolving relationship, all while Leventhal is struggling to deal with his own family problems. Asa Leventhal's wife Mary has left the city for a few weeks in order to help her elderly mother move from Baltimore to her old family home in the South. While she is away, Leventhal must take on many tasks of caring for himself which his wife would ordinarily undertake for him.
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| Author: | Saul Bellow |
| Genre: | Novel, Fiction |
| Year published: | 1947 |
| Number of editions: | 12 |