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A chronicle of success and failure, this work is Bellow's tale of the writer's life in America. When Humboldt dies a failure in a seedy New York hotel, Charlie Citrine coping with the tribulations of his own success, begins to realize the significance of his own life.
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In this wise and dazzling work of fiction, Nobel laureate Saul Bellow writes comically and tragically about the tenacity of first love. ""The Actual" (is) the ultimate springtime story".--"San Francisco Chronicle Book Review".
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Kenneth Trachtenberg, an eccentric and witty native of Paris, travels to the Midwest to spend time with his famous American uncle, a world-renowned botanist and self-described ""plant visionary."" After numerous affairs and failed relationships, the restless Uncle Benn seeks a settled existence in the form of …