Collected Stories [Paperback]

This is an interesting collection of stories, not only as stories themselves, but also as another 'side' of Saul Bellow's work as a writer. He has, as readers and fans of his will know, novellas in the past ('Seize the Day', 'Dangling Man'), but his short stories are less well known. I myself, a long time Bellow reader, have only recently picked up this 'Collected Stories' and been able to experience his shorter works.
As with all the writers I adore, like Albert Camus, Philip Roth, Isaac Bashevis Singer and George Orwell, there was a real feeling of excitement and expectation as I picked up the book from the local library. It all starts well with 'By the St.Lawrence' and 'A silver dish', two stories full of the meandering character studies and personal struggles we have come to expect of Bellow, along with his unique descriptive powers. 'By the St.Lawrence' takes place over one day, but is made up of reminiscences of the main character which roam over many years. 'A Silver Dish' examines the micro-struggle between a father and his son, which is beautifully told and heartfelt in Bellow's original ways.
But then, I came to a fork in the road, so to speak. The story (albeit a very long-short story; I think it may have been published as a single book) 'A Theft' is really very tiresome, and drags on for a very long time. It felt as if it had previously been a novel idea which Bellow abandoned and modified into the piece we see here. I found myself just thinking 'Come on, come on...', even though I am a fan of slow-moving, patient stories. At times the story was frustrating because I felt that Bellow had been greedy and indulgent when it came to editing the piece itself, which, at times, shone through with a lot of potential. And, although this collection is filled mostly with literary beauty from a master, often there are passages which are just pedestrian. And for a writer such as Bellow, this can be quietly shocking to a reader familiar with his work. a good example of this is the opening to 'Mosby's Memoirs', which is interesting and well written, but the opening few lines are really quite clunky and mundane, struggling for poetics in a way.
But, as I say, most of this collection shines with Bellow's brilliance, albeit a brilliance of a lesser kind than his longer works I think. Some passages are quite swamped in his tendency to use some characters as 'vents' for his philosophy and can feel, again more in this collection than in his larger works, slightly showy and unnecessary. His thoughts and quizzical wonderment at the world around him is beautiful and profound in novels such as 'Dangling Man', 'The Adventures of Augie March', 'Henderson the Rain King' and 'Herzog', but can seem contrived and forced here.
I feel, now that I think through the collection as a whole, that the omission of 'A Theft' and possibly 'What kind of day did you have?' (Great title, among many here - 'Him with his foot in his Mouth' is superb), would have benefited the others here, the collection being more lucid that way, more focussed all round as a piece. Janis Bellow's forward and James Woods' introduction are of note, especially the introduction, which is well-informed and filled with a genuine appreciation and love of Bellow's work as a whole.
The story 'Leaving the Yellow House' reminded me of Carson McCullers (particularly 'Ballad of the Sad Cafe'), who's work I suspect old Saul knew well, but the opener, 'By the St.Lawrence', is short fiction at its very best. Bellow allows his characters time to remember, gives their inner thoughts space to move and live. "Toward the end of summer he came down with polio and his frame was contorted into a monkey puzzle. Next, adolescence turned him into a cripple gymnast whose skeleton was the apparatus he worked out on like an acrobat in training." ('By the St. Lawrence') Wonderful.

For all the power of his novels it is worth remembering that it was a novella ("Seize the Day") that opened the door to Saul Bellow's Nobel prize.

Therefore, it should not come as a surprise to learn that his collection of short stories is a rich trove in which some memorable fictional creations engage in scrapes with real life, providing much scope for Bellow's black humour and pithy observation.

Some leave a little to be desired but that's largely because of the standard set by the majority amongst which stand out: "Him with his Foot in his Mouth" and "A Silver Dish"