Saul Bellow won the 1976 Nobel Prize in Literature for the human understanding and subtle analysis of contemporary culture that are combined in his work.
Bellow was born in Lachine, Quebec, in 1915 to a Jewish family of Russian origin and grew up in Chicago. His novels frequently portray intellectually restless characters confronting modern urban life, mortality, identity, and moral uncertainty.
Major works include The Adventures of Augie March, Herzog, Mr. Sammler’s Planet, Humboldt’s Gift, and Ravelstein. He won the National Book Award for Fiction three times, more than any other writer, and also received the Pulitzer Prize for Humboldt’s Gift.
Philip Roth, John Updike, and Norman Mailer were prominent American novelists of the same broad generation, but none won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Bellow remains the only Canadian-born writer to receive the award.