Mr. Sammler's Planet

and#147;An enduring testament and prophecy.and#8221; and#150;Chicago Sun-Times

Mr. Artur Sammler, Holocaust survivor, intellectual, and occasional lecturer at Columbia University in 1960s New York City, is a and#147;registrar of madness,and#8221; a refined and civilized being caught among people crazy with the promises of the future (moon landings, endless possibilities).and#160; His Cyclopean gaze reflects on the degradations of city life while looking deep into the sufferings of the human soul.and#160; and#147;Sorry for all and sore at heart,and#8221; he observes how greater luxury and leisure have only led to more human suffering. To Mr. Sammlerand#151;who by the end of this ferociously unsentimental novel has found the compassionate consciousness necessary to bridge the gap between himself and his fellow beingsand#151;a good life is one in which a person does what is and#147;required of him.and#8221; To know and to meet the and#147;terms of the contractand#8221; was as true a life as one could live.and#160; At its heart, this novel is quintessential Bellow: moral, urbane, sublimely humane.

This Penguin Classics edition features an introduction by Stanley Crouch.

For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500and#160;titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust theand#160;series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-dateand#160;translations by award-winning translators.

“Bellow’s oeuvre is both timeless and ruthlessly contemporary.” (Bryan Appleyard, Sunday Times, London)

and#8220;The most important writer in English in the second half of the twentieth centuryand#8230;Bellowand#8217;s oeuvre is both timeless and ruthlessly contemporary.and#8221; and#8211;Bryan Appleyard, Sunday Times (London)

An enduring testament and prophecy. Chicago Sun-Times
Mr. Artur Sammler, Holocaust survivor, intellectual, and occasional lecturer at Columbia University in 1960s New York City, is a registrar of madness, a refined and civilized being caught among people crazy with the promises of the future (moon landings, endless possibilities). His Cyclopean gaze reflects on the degradations of city life while looking deep into the sufferings of the human soul. Sorry for all and sore at heart, he observes how greater luxury and leisure have only led to more human suffering. To Mr. Sammler who by the end of this ferociously unsentimental novel has found the compassionate consciousness necessary to bridge the gap between himself and his fellow beings a good life is one in which a person does what is required of him. To know and to meet the terms of the contract was as true a life as one could live. At its heart, this novel is quintessential Bellow: moral, urbane, sublimely humane.
This Penguin Classics edition features an introduction by Stanley Crouch.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust theseries to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-datetranslations by award-winning translators."

Saul Bellow is the author of twelve novels and numerous novellas and stories. He has received three National Book Awards, the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Book Award Foundation Medal for distinguished contribution to American letters.

Stanley Crouch’s books include Notes of a Hanging Judge, The All-American Skin Game (Nominated for the National Book Award), and a novel, Don’t the Moon Look Lonesome. He has received the Whiting Writer’s Award and a MacArthur Foundation “genius” award.