There's the most extraordinary, unheard of poetry buried in America, but none of the conventional means known to culture can even begin to extract it...the agony is too deep, the disorder too big for art enterprises undertaken in the old way.
Saul Bellow Humboldt's Gift
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In "Humboldt's Gift," Saul Bellow expresses a profound idea regarding the hidden poetry within America. He suggests that this extraordinary art exists, but traditional cultural approaches are insufficient to reveal it. There is an underlying agony and complexity in society that conventional artistic methods fail to address, highlighting a disconnect between established cultural practices and the more profound dimensions of human experience.

Bellow's quote underscores a sense of urgency for new forms of expression that can capture the depth of emotions and challenges facing individuals. The traditional frameworks for art might overlook the richness of these buried feelings, suggesting that a significant transformation is required in art to truly connect with the deeper truths of life. The struggle to reconcile these emotions with artistic expression is a central theme in Bellow's exploration of contemporary life.

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Humboldt's Gift
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Other quotes in Humboldt's Gift

There's the most extraordinary, unheard of poetry buried in America, but none of the conventional means known to culture can even begin to extract it...the agony is too deep, the disorder too big for art enterprises undertaken in the old way.
Saul Bellow Humboldt's Gift
There's the most extraordinary, unheard of poetry buried in America, but none of the conventional means known to culture can even begin to extract it...the agony is too deep, the disorder too big for art enterprises undertaken in the old way.
The same things are done by us, over and over, with terrible predictability. One may be forgiven, in view of this, for wishing at least to associate with beauty.
Saul Bellow Humboldt's Gift
The same things are done by us, over and over, with terrible predictability. One may be forgiven, in view of this, for wishing at least to associate with beauty.
Maybe America didn't need art and inner miracles. It had so many outer ones. The USA was a big operation, very big. The more it, the less we.
Saul Bellow Humboldt's Gift
Maybe America didn't need art and inner miracles. It had so many outer ones. The USA was a big operation, very big. The more it, the less we.
And I said to myself that unless you conceive Death to be a violent guerrilla and kidnaper who snatches those you love, and if you are not cowardly and cannot submit to such terrorism as civilized people now do in every department of life, you must pursue and inquire and explore every possibility and seek everywhere and try everything.
Saul Bellow Humboldt's Gift
And I said to myself that unless you conceive Death to be a violent guerrilla and kidnaper who snatches those you love, and if you are not cowardly and cannot submit to such terrorism as civilized people now do in every department of life, you must pursue and inquire and explore every possibility and seek everywhere and try everything.
Fidelity is for phonographs
Saul Bellow Humboldt's Gift
Fidelity is for phonographs
Ninety per cent of life is a nightmare, do you think I am going to get it rounded up to hundred per cent?
Saul Bellow Humboldt's Gift
Ninety per cent of life is a nightmare, do you think I am going to get it rounded up to hundred per cent?
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«In memory of the countless men and women of all creeds, nations, and races who fell victim to the fascist and communist belief in the Inexorable Laws of Historical Destiny.»
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"That's a huge gamble." "We're long past the time for careful certainty."
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"That's a huge gamble." "We're long past the time for careful certainty."
When had it become so ingrained in her to apologize whenever she wanted something for herself?
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Relationships and marriages are hard enough, but you add war into the mix and small fissures become gaping wounds. No one sees what you're seeing - again that clear-eyed, unbiased thing - except your fellow soldiers. It's like one of those movies where only the hero can see the ghosts and everyone else thinks the hero is crazy.
Harlan Coben Fool Me Once
Relationships and marriages are hard enough, but you add war into the mix and small fissures become gaping wounds. No one sees what you're seeing - again that clear-eyed, unbiased thing - except your fellow soldiers. It's like one of those movies where only the hero can see the ghosts and everyone else thinks the hero is crazy.
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