Saul (Solomon) Bellow was born on June 10, 1915, to Russian immigrant parents. He was raised in an impoverished suburb of Montreal, Quebec, where his father, Abraham, was a bootlegger and a businessman. Abraham pushed his children to take full advantage of every opportunity they were afforded, and Liza, his wife, hoped to see her sons grow up to become Talmudic scholars. As a child, Bellow spoke French, English, Yiddish, and Hebrew, and was encouraged to pursue diverse academic interests. Bellow's parents thus instilled in him both an intense desire to succeed and a sincere thirst for knowledge.
Bellow's family moved to Chicago in 1924, and as Bellow grew older he became increasingly...
