A period of illness from a respiratory infection at age eight both taught him se

lf-reliance (he was a very fit man despite his sedentary occupation) and provide
d an opportunity to satisfy his hunger for reading: reportedly, he decided to be
a writer when he first read Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin.
When Bellow was nine, his family moved to the Humboldt Park neighborhood on the
West Side of Chicago, the city that formed the backdrop of many of his novels.[1
0] Bellow's father, Abraham, had become an onion importer. He also worked in a b
akery, as a coal delivery man, and as a bootlegger.[10] Bellow's mother, Liza, d
ied when he was 17. He was left with his father and brother Maurice. His mother
was deeply religious, and wanted her youngest son, Saul, to become a rabbi or a
concert violinist. But he rebelled against what he later called the "suffocating
orthodoxy" of his religious upbringing, and he began writing at a young age.[10
] Bellow's lifelong love for the Bible began at four when he learned Hebrew. Bel
low also grew up reading William Shakespeare and the great Russian novelists of
the 19th century.[10] In Chicago, he took part in anthroposophical studies at th
e Anthroposophical Society of Chicago.[16] Bellow attended Tuley High School on
Chicago's west side where he befriended fellow writer Isaac Rosenfeld. In his 19
59 novel Henderson the Rain King, Bellow modeled the character King Dahfu on Ros
enfeld.[17]
Education and early career
Bellow attended the University of Chicago but later transferred to Northwestern
University. He originally wanted to study literature, but he felt the English de
partment was anti-Jewish. Instead, he graduated with honors in anthropology and
sociology.[18] It has been suggested Bellow's study of anthropology had an influ
ence on his literary style, and anthropological references pepper his works.[cit
ation needed] Bellow later did graduate work at the University of Wisconsin Madiso
n.
Paraphrasing Bellow's description of his close friend Allan Bloom (see Ravelstei
n), John Podhoretz has said that both Bellow and Bloom "inhaled books and ideas
the way the rest of us breathe air."[19]
In the 1930s, Bellow was part of the Chicago branch of the Works Progress Admini
stration Writer's Project, which included such future Chicago literary luminarie
s as Richard Wright and Nelson Algren. Many of the writers were radical: if they
were not members of the Communist Party USA, they were sympathetic to the cause
. Bellow was a Trotskyist, but because of the greater numbers of Stalinist-leani
ng writers he had to suffer their taunts.[20]
In 1941 Bellow became a naturalized US citizen, after discovering upon attemptin
g to enlist in the armed forces that he had immigrated to the United States ille
gally as a child.[21] [22] In 1943, Maxim Lieber was his literary agent.
During World War II, Bellow joined the merchant marine and during his service he
completed his first novel, Dangling Man (1944) about a young Chicago man waitin
g to be drafted for the war.
From 1946 through 1948 Bellow taught at the University of Minnesota, living on C
ommonwealth Avenue, in St. Paul, Minnesota.[23]
In 1948, Bellow was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship that allowed him to move to
Paris, where he began writing The Adventures of Augie March (1953). Critics have
remarked on the resemblance between Bellow's picaresque novel and the great 17t
h Century Spanish classic Don Quixote.[citation needed] The book starts with one
of American literature's most famous opening paragraphs,[24] and it follows its
titular character through a series of careers and encounters, as he lives by hi
s wits and his resolve. Written in a colloquial yet philosophical style, The Adv
entures of Augie March established Bellow's reputation as a major author.
In 1958, Bellow once again taught at the University of Minnesota. During this ti
me, he and his wife Sasha received psychoanalysis from University of Minnesota P
sychology Professor Paul Meehl.[25]
In the spring term of 1961 he taught creative writing at the University of Puert
o Rico at Ro Piedras.[26] One of his students was William Kennedy, who was encour
aged by Bellow to write fiction.