SAUL BELLOW AND NORTHWESTERN.

SAUL BELLOW AND NORTHWESTERN. Saul Bellow is the only Nobel Prize winner in literature to graduate from my alma mater, Northwestern. I have always treasured his statement that transferring to Northwestern from the University of Chicago was a turning point in his life because the University of Chicago was intellectually intimidating and Northwestern was not. Here is the quote: “the [University of Chicago] was, for me, a terrifying place. The dense atmosphere of learning, of cultural effort, heavily oppressed me; I felt that wisdom and culture were immense and that I was hopelessly small. In 1935 I transferred to Northwestern University. Northwestern had less prestige, but my teachers there appreciated me more. And of course I wanted to be appreciated. My intelligence revived somewhat and I graduated with honors in anthropology and sociology in 1937.”