『허조그』속에 나타난 지식인의 고뇌

An Intellectual's Agony in Herzog

Bellow depicts Herzog in Herzog as an intellectual but ordinary citizen who has been broken down by various dilemmas in modern society. His dilemmas include all from his private sufferings to whole human difficulties. To overcome such difficulties, Herzog tries to evaluate even Madeleine, his ex-wife, and Gersbach, his friend and Madeleine's lover, objectively. One of the important things that Herzog lives along with following the indicates of his conscience is his Jewish heritage. Herzog's Jewish heritage always puts a burden of guilt on him, and it causes complications in his mind. He has a double-faced character. He is the defender of Jewish family values, but at the same time he is a rebel against those values--a renegade from the faiths as well. Whenever he violates the traditional Jewish heritage, Herzog falls into a feeling of liability of guilt easily. Accordingly, although much of the traditional heritage is inapplicable or even anachronic, he thinks the Jewishness based on the historical and religious tradition can help the modern man to overcome alienation, fear, pain, and weakness in his life. After many sufferings, Herzog realizes the importance of cooperative relationship between the individual and society through the Jewish family's viewpoint, and he finally seeks and broadens the recovery of self through self-recognition within a community.