The Actual: A Novella

Saul Bellow


Harry Trellman has now become "a first-class noticer." Sigmund Adletsky finds that out when he invites Harry to one of his salons and notices Trellman noticing all of Adletsky's "commonplace" characters. Adletsky himself also points the way for Trellman to pick up his life with Amy Wustrin, the woman he has loved since high school. Near the story's climax, we find Trellman out in the middle of a Chicago snowstorm in a cemetery, helping Amy to re-bury her ex-husband, and finding a little self-redemption in the bargain.


This summary is courtesy of McNaughton Books