The Dean's December

THE DEAN’S DECEMBER

by Saul Bellow

 

Award: Nobel Prize Winner 1982

 

Nomination: LA Times Finalist 1982

 

Date Read: January 19, 2022

 

While exploring very rich content – death in families, death of the American city, death of character – Bellow embarks on this dry and often slow novel. Arthur Corde is married to Minna, an accomplished astronomer in her own right who hails from Belarus. Her mother Valeria, who is on the verge of death, causes them to travel to this Communist enclave as interlopers rather than celebrated returnees.

 

The hospitals are run by the government and they lord visitation over visitors like treasures to be bargained for. Corde and Minna, therefore, are only able to see Valeria twice before she passes away. Valeria was also an accomplished doctor and played a key role in sending her daughter out of Romania to achieve a brighter future.

 

Corde, meanwhile, has left Chicago at a very precarious time. He is Dean of Students at a university there and one of his students was recently murdered. Perhaps unwisely, he has become more involved in the trial and aftermath than he ought to have, written some shit-stirring articles for Harper’s Bazaar and then left the country.

 

Corde comes to the realization of how much he too loves Valeria and is willing to bang his head against the bureaucracy and bribery that accompanies her visits and then her subsequent burial. An outlandish amount of bureaus and departments are involved in a person’s death and all those wheels need to be greased. And while navigating this uncertain terrain in honor of Valeria and his beloved wife, Corde remains preoccupied on the mess he has left behind in Chicago. 

 

As with all of Bellow’s books, this is mere pretense to discuss his views on race and the ability to overcome poverty, politics, death and the intricacies of the extended family. Some have argued this is Bellow’s best, his first novel written after being awarded the Nobel Prize. I found it somewhat meandering and essayish (not necessarily a bad thing), but a difficult read nonetheless. I still adore Bellow and count him among my top 10.   

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