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Herzog Summary

Herzog  has a narrative plot, but most of its important action takes place in the mind of Moses

Herzog, its protagonist. Moses is a middle-aged college professor living temporarily in his country

home in the Berkshires. Moses has made a habit of writing letters, which he never sends, to family,

friends, acquaintances, scholars, writers, and the dead. These letters make up much of the novel.

Moses decides to visit his friends at Martha's Vineyard, mostly because he wants to escape his

lover, Ramona. Almost immediately up arriving at the Vineyard, however, Moses decides to return to

New York, where he writes letters compulsively. Moses spends the next night with Ramona. The

following morning, he decides he must act somehow, and determines to fight his ex-wife, Madeleine,

for custody of their daughter, June. June's babysitter wrote a letter accusing Valentine Gersbach,

Moses' best friend and Madeleine's lover, of treating June badly. According to the babysitter,

Valentine locked the child in the car while he and Madeleine argued.

Moses calls his lawyer, Simkin, and arranges a meeting in the courthouse. While he waits for

Simkin, Moses witnesses several cases ranging from prostitution to a mother's murder of her

daughter. The next day, Moses impulsively flies to Chicago to visit his daughter. In Chicago, he goes

to his childhood home, where his widowed stepmother, Tante Taube, still lives. There, he goes to

the desk of his late father, Jonah Herzog, and takes Jonah's old gun and some Russian rubles.

Moses considers murdering his ex-wife and her lover with the gun. After spying on Madeleine and

Valentine through a window of their house, however, Moses realizes that he will not kill them. Hegoes to Phoebe Gersbach, Valentine's wife, and asks for her help in gaining custody of June, but

Phoebe refuses to help him.

Moses spends the night with his good friend Lucas Asphalter. Through Lucas, he arranges to meet

with his daughter. The next morning he takes June to the aquarium. As they leave the aquarium,

Moses gets into a car accident. June is not hurt, but Moses is knocked unconscious. He wakes up to

find himself at the feet of the police. He is charged with possession of a weapon and taken to jail. His

brother Will bails him out. Will is worried for Moses. Later, the brothers meet in the Berkshires. Will

suggests that Moses allow himself to be taken to a hospital for observed rest under the care of a

psychiatrist. Moses had once had the same idea himself, but now he rejects it and remains in the

Berkshires. He arranges a night with Ramona, who comes to visit him. By the end of the novel,

Moses has found contentment in his country home and the pleasant weather. He feels he does not

need to write any more letters.

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Other important facts arise, not in the course of the main plot, but through Moses' letters and

memory. We learn that before Moses married Madeleine, he was married to a woman named Daisy,

with whom he had had a son named Marco. We also learn that Moses was raised in a Jewish

immigrant family in LaRoux, Canada, and that his father Johan failed in many business ventures and

eventually became a bootlegger. Moses also recounts tales of his brothers and sister (Will, Shura,

and Helen). Moses constantly mentions his efforts as a writer. He published one book

entitled Romanticism and Christianity , which gained critical acclaim as time passed, despite an

initially chilly critical response. His never completed the intended second volume of the book.

Herzog Summary

Bellow's novel tells the story of Moses Elkanah Herzog, a scholar of Jewish heritage who is

losing faith in himself. The novel opens shortly after his divorce from his second

wife,Madeleine, who has taken up with his closest friend, Valentine Gersbach. Moses growsparanoid and is convinced that various figures in his life - his doctor, his lawyer, histherapist, and his aunt - conspired in the destruction of his marriage. He begins writing

letters to friends, acquaintances, public figures and philosophers, none of which he sends, in

a quest to make sense of his situation.

He spends the first half of the book in transit, first isolating himself in the country home he

had bought for Madeleine, before fleeing to New York. There he meets up with his longtime

lover, Ramona, but upon finding himself alarmingly susceptible to her charms, departs forMartha's Vineyard with a view of pursuing a less weighted affair in the sympathetic arms ofLibbie, a recently married friend. As his ferry nears the port, Moses is overcome with guilt

for taking advantage of Libbie's sympathy. He leaves after a short visit and returns to hisbed in New York, discovering a letter from the babysitter of his and Madeleine's

daughter, June. The letter tells of Valentine locking and abandoning tearful June in the carduring a fight with Madeleine. Moses is outraged; the first hints of fatherly responsibility are

revived in him.

The following morning, Moses writes more letters, bearing witness to Madeleine's abusive

childhood and subsequently maniacal nature. We learn about Moses' cool, organized firstwife, Daisy, and a little about his childhood in Montreal. Through writing letters, Moses

seems to be rediscovering different parts of himself. He meets Ramona for dinner that night

and finds himself overflowing with talk of his problems. Ramona eventually soothes himwith sex, though Moses can never shut off his philosophizing brain.

After bidding Ramona goodbye the next morning, Moses elects to take charge of his

fatherhood and fight for custody of June, determined to protect her from the seemingly

abusive Valentine. He also resolves to reconnect with Marco, his son from his first marriage,after a long period of estrangement. He convinces his divorce lawyer, Simkin, to meet with

him at the courthouse to discuss Junie's custody. Like almost everyone else in his life,Simkin alludes to Moses' mental instability. Eventually, however, he agrees. While waitingfor Simkin at the courthouse, Moses is disturbed by a number of trials he witnesses,

particularly one involving a mother accused of murdering her child. He experiences a painful

flashback he has swallowed since his youth - of being raped on the street.

Alive with even more familial emotion, Moses travels to Chicago to visit the house of his ex-

wife, Madeleine. On the way, he visits his father's old house and his widow, Taube, with