RAMONA AFFAIR Novel Harzog by Saul Bellow

RAMONA AFFAIR NOVEL HARZOG BY SAUL BELLOW

Introduction

Herzog was mad in love of Madeline, but she told him in no uncertain words that she never loved him and would never love him. He still made protestations of love, but to no avail. He was badly beaten by his second wife for whom he had to divorce his first wife. In his state of desperation he remembered his women, friends, 'Dear Wanda, Dear Zinka, Dear Libbie, Dear Ramona, Dear Sono' to write them in most pathetic terms 'I need help in the worst way. I am afraid of falling apart'. He even scribbled a note to his first wife to inform her that it would not be good for him to go to meet his son, Marco, on Parents' Day since he held him responsible for the breakup with Madeline. He became hypochondriac. His good physique sustained him, saved him from falling apart. He went to Dr. Emmerich, who advised him to go on a holiday with a girl to recoup instead of going to a psychiatrist. 

Planned to go to Ramona

Under the medical advice of Dr. Emmerich, he planned to go to Ramona, who he thought would buck him up. Ramona was doing M. A. at Columbia in art history and had enrolled in Herzog's evening course... She was extremely attractive, slightly foreign, well-educated. She was very earnest, with exciting idea and loved to talk. She was an excellent cook. Herzog had supper with her several nights a week. Not being too young, being in her thirties, she was not priggish-while going in a cab, she asked Herzog to feel how her heart was beating. Herzog reached for her wrist to take her pulse, but she put his hand on her breast, saying 'we are not young children, professor'. 

Ramona's Admiration for Herzog

Ramona had an admiration for Herzog's intellectual and physical prowess-"She recognized that Moses was in a peculiar state, but there was something about him so dear, so loving, so healthy, and basically so steady-as if, having survived so many horrors, he had been purged of neurotic nonsense-that it had been simply a question of the right woman, all along." When she came to know about Dr. Emmerich's advise to Herzog to go on a holiday tour, she said that he should go to Montauk, where she had a house and offered to visit him on weekends, since she was busy running a flower-shop on Lexington Avenue. In order to help him come out of depression, she told him, "you are a good looking man. And you take pride in being one. In Argentina they'd call you macho-masculine. You like to come on meek and tame, and cover up the devil that's in you. Why put that little devil down? Why not make friends with him-well, why not?"

Herzog's Fascination

Herzog liked Ramona. She had a very attractive personality. She had international background-Spanish, French, Russian, Polish and Jewish. As for her figure, 'She was short but had a full substantial figure, a good round seat, firm breasts (all these things mattered to Herzog; he might think himself a moralist but the shape of woman's breasts mattered greatly)". She had confidence in her lovely throat. She walked fast with energy and confidence. Her eyes were brown, sensitive, and erotic. "The warm odour, the downy arms, the fine bust, and excellent white teeth and slightly bowed legs-they all worked." Herzog decided not to go to Montauk to live in Ramona's house because he thought that Ramona being thirty seven or thirty eight, was looking for a husband-"She wanted to give her heart once and for all, and level with a good man, become Herzog's wife and quit being an easy lay."

Ramona a Hedonistic Pursuer

Ramona came to know about Herzog's presence in New York through one, Miss Schwartz, who had seen him in Grand Central, Ramona rang up to him to ask him if he wanted to run out on her. Herzog, who was already under the spell of her charm, could ask nothing but how he could "Run out on fragrant, sexual, high-minded Ramona ? Never in a million years." Ramona had a mind to help Herzog in fighting with his depression, but at the same time she was a pleasure-seeker. She believed that life would become cumbersome without pleasure. Therefore she was a serious hedonist-"Ramona had passed through the hell of profligacy and attained the seriousness of pleasure. For when will we civilized beings become really serious? said Kierkegaard. Only when we have known hell through and through. Without this, hedonism and frivolity will diffuse hell through all our days. Ramona, however, does not believe in any sin but the sin against the body, for her the true and the only temple of soul." Naturally, she had her interest in seeking company of Herzog whom she liked for his robust body and intellectual attainment.

She felt that Herzog was avoiding her. Therefore she said rather sarcastically that he had become a scholar of repute, having been included in who's who while she was a 'petit- bourgeois'. Very significantly, Herzog looked at the ceiling where spiders had woven a web as Ramona was trying to do. Ramona's sarcasm made Herzog realize that he was getting nemesis. He bewailed that he had told his story of life, of his rising from humble origin to complete disaster. He therefore said in self- pity-"To all such, one is well-advised to listen. Scolding is better than nothing. At least it's company." 

Insight in Herzog's Character

Ramona invited him to dinner and succeeded in getting his consent. During the interragnum, he pondered over the attitude and behaviour of Ramona. He felt that Ramona would tenderly sympathize with him, not because he was in a broken state, but because he was different from the people who were indifferent to the spiritual needs-"In a spiritually confused age, however, a man who could feel as he did might claim a certain distinction". He realized that his failures had emanated from his philosophical and scholarly approach to life, which was in ordinary parleys was unrealistic, and short-sighted. But he knew that Ramona had intelligence to understand him "He was beginning to see that his particular brand of short-sightedness, lack of realism, and apparent ingenuousness conferred a high status on him. For Ramona it evidently surrounded him with glamour." Ramona was astonished that any woman should find fault with him. 

Image-building Effort

As Ramona understood Herzog's problems, Herzog also was well aware of the service that Ramona had done to him. It was she who changed Herzog's despair or rather depression into healthy mood of joviality-"She transformed his miseries into sexual excitement and, to give credit where it was due, turned his grief in a useful direction", she went to the extent of changing his dress code. She did not like his taste in shoes. So she pointed at a pair of ankle-high Spanish boots. She further advised him to use a little imagination about clothes so as to 'encourage certain aspects of your character.' She had so much of influence on him that he agreed with her. He could well see that 'Spanish shoes would improve his character'. According to Ramona's advice, he put on trousers instead of Italian pants, and modras jacket. As he saw himself in the mirror, he exclaimed, "Oh, terrific-you look exquisite, Moses! Smashing !.... If the light is not too bright, you're still a grand-looking man. For a while, you can get women." In her effort of image-building, she infused confidence in Herzog with her remarks in appreciation of his personality. She said, "You are not a true, puritanical American. You have a talent for sensuality. Your mouth gives you away." Thus Ramona had changed a distraught and depressed Herzog into a vibrant one. 

External Trappings are Insufficient

Herzog came to believe that if a man lost the favour of a woman, it was impossible for him to regain it. He had the example of Ramona's George Hoberly. Ramona had nothing but pity for him. He made two attempts to commit suicide because Ramona was indifferent to him. Moses had learnt from Madeline, "When a woman was done with a man, she was done with him utterly. He learnt from Hoberley's example that dress alone would not keep the interest of a woman alive. Hoberly might be wearing clothes picked by Ramona for him, yet she had become cold to him. Herzog recalled, "There were times when Ramona spoke of Hoberly with great sympathy. She said she had been crying over one of his letters or gifts. He kept sending her purses and perfumes, and long extracts from his journal. He had even sent her a large sum in cash. This she turned over to Aunt Tamara." 

Ramona's Advice to Herzog

When Herzog reached Ramona's house, she took him in offered her face to him. She said she knew his needs better than he, sina her feelings for him had depth and maturity'. She told him 'that he was a better man than he knew-a deep man, beautiful, but sad, unable to take what his heart really desired, a man tempted by God, longing for grace, but escaped headlong from his salvation, often close at hand."

In her opinion, Herzog had many good qualities, but he was frigid, 'castrating female in his bed, given her his name and made her the instrument of creation'. Ramona's obviously wanted to say that he was not passionate and carnal to satisfy woman's libido. She inferred that Madeline had therefore treated him with cruelty and contempt for 'lying himself into love with her and betraying the promise of his soul'. She advised him 'to pay debt for the great gifts he had received, his intelligence, his charm, his education' by continuing his studies. Ramona wanted his to enrich Herzog's life by the art of love'. What he was to lear from her, while he was still virile, was 'to renew the spirit through the flesh (a precious vessel in which the spirit rested. 

Could be a Happy Union

Ramona thought that she could restore order and sanity to Herzog's life and if she could do that, it was logical for him to marry her. Ramona could manage the household with perfection-"Tables, beds, parlours, money, laundry, and automobile, culture and knit into one web." It would have been a real union of the two souls and happiness would have been a natural consequence, because 'Happiness was an absurd idea, unless it was really comprehensive." Moreover, both Herzog and Ramona had 'experienced the worst sort of morbidity and come through by a miracle'. Naturally, the two would have the same desire to resettle and to go in pursuit of happiness unitedly. Herzog knew what joy it was to 'rise from the dead', and Ramona knew the bitterness of death'. In the company of Herzog she would have 'experienced a real Easter', the joy of resurrection. Herzog might look down upon sensual delight, but when they took off their clothes, he felt "No amount of sublimation could replace that erotic happiness, that knowledge."

A Lesson in Art of Love

Herzog felt a change coming over him, he became 'A prince of erotic Renaissance, in his macho garments! The idea of being married to Ramona raised the question of his responsibility to his children-whether the children would like their step-mother. Ramona observed that Herzog was 'afraid' of her, and trying to 'run away from her'. She thought that Herzog could not understand her fully because he was used to difficult women who gave him a bad time, as Daisy and Madeline had done. Ramona was. of a different sort-she believed in the efficiency of comprehensive love. She was the picture of a successful woman-she was 'in her thirties, successful in business, independent, but giving such suppers to gentlemen friends'. All the same, she was careful to see that no evil man came in her contact. She prayed-"Oh, Lord, let no bad man come into my chubbiness."

Not a Depraved Woman

In order to make it clear to Herzog that she was not a depraved woman, she told Herzog that she was a woman of honour and dignity. She was conscious that men and women were like "the two savages belonging to hostile tribes, confront each other. The man wants to deceive, and then to disengage himself, the woman's strategy is to desarm and detain him." So the woman, she held, was to remain on guard lest man should flirt and run away. As she said that she was something of a prig in her relationship with man, Herzog thought that she was trying to raise him to a higher level and bring out Orphic element, (constancy and truthfulness of Orpheus) in him. But he made it clear that he wasn't an idealist; he was rather a common, dutiful and responsible man, desiring quid pro quo, (some advantages in return). He admitted that he had wished for himself something very unusual, and ambivalent, too. He wished to be spared of the worst but also flirted 'a little with the transcendent', a strange admixture of a realist and an idealist. 

Madeline's Cruel Treatment

He was angry when Ramona said that there was 'nothing so ordinary about marrying woman like Madeline or having a friend as Valentine Gersbach'. Ramona tried to purge him of his spleen. She enraged him further as she said that though Gersbach imitated Herzog, but Gersbach was better than Herzog. Herzog said that all three of them-he, Madeline and Gersbach-lived together on a high level', but Phoebe was out of tune, acted like a head-nurse. He added that perhaps she was bitter because her husband was a cripple', 'a factory damaged one', and she could not have the luxury of 'new and perfect'. The disenssion about the relationship between Herzog and Madeline went on to show that Madeline had been interested in Gersbach, and eventually ended in a divorce, leaving Herzog in a lunch. He did not know whether he should go to live in New York for his son, Marco, or in Chicago to rescue his daughter, Junie, from the unkind treatment from Gersbach. He was in a masochistic situation (deriving pleasure from his own pain and humiliation)

Trying to Retrieve Him

From his story, Ramona inferred that he was unused Erotically untouched even'. In her opinion, he was treated cruelly was one of such men as 'should be protected.... by law. She told him that Madeline tried to make him feel that he was 'old and faished, while he was 'chemically youthful as his skin had a declicious flavour. To make him free from 'hatred and fanatical infighting, she put her arms around his neck, kissed him passionately, and caressed him.

When they were in voluptuous embrace the phone rang, but Ramona refused to answer since she knew it was from George Hoberly. Herzog felt that Ramona had deserted him because he wanted Ramona should take him on a tour of Europe which would have cost her ten thousand dollars. She made it clear that it was not for money that she had abandoned him. In fact, there was nothing serious in their relationship. She assured him that he was not a replacement for Hoberly. She had taken pity on Hoberly. Therefore it was only a temporary relationship. Herzog. on the contrary, she said, was a man of strength and no woman would feel sorry for having him. Herzog accepted it. After all, she had given him, 'wine, music, sympathy, room, so to say, in her soul, and finally the embrace of her body'.

Ramona told Herzog that she had 'taken more than one beating', passed through several difficulties-'a terrible marriage, a whole series of bad relationship'. She was in love with him, for he had the strength and it was, in her opinion, sinful not to use it. The signs of her being in love were so obvious on her face that even bakery woman could notice them. 

Between Carnality and Celebacy

Ramona went away for some time, leaving Herzog to himself. He thought that man was under stress in the modern world-"Because he let the world press upon him. For instance? Well, for instance, what it means to be a man? In a city. In a century. In transition. In a mass. Transformed by science under organized power. Subject to tremendous controls. In a condition caused by mechanization." The disparities in social life also put stress on those who worked hard, yet they were unable to get proper diet, while others enjoyed all the comforts and luxuries.

Herzog thought that sexual relief alone could diffuse or even remove stresses and tensions-"Constitutional tensions of whatever origin needed sexual relief. Whatever the man's age, history, condition, knowledge, culture, development, he had an erection. Good currency anywhere." At the same time, he remembered Nietzsche who had said that 'the semen re-absorbed was the great fuel of creativity. Be thankful, when syphilitics preach chastity'. He also thought that howsoever hard Ramona would try to give him pleasure, but it would not be possible to make him free from stress-"she would never turn an old herring into a dolphin". Sexual pleasure or relief apart, he felt that marriage was necessary for him because he wouldn't stand the disorder and loneliness. Moreover, he liked clean shirts, ironed handkerchiefs, heels on his shoes. He could be a patriarch in the family. He thought that if he joined flower business of Ramona after marriage, he would be busy talking with customers. The privations of scholarly isolation was too much for a man of his temperament. He knew that some such scholars had to call the police to request them to send somebody or send him to the lock-up where they hoped to get company. After all, man is a social being. As he was engrossed in such ideas, Ramona appeared in nudity and the two went into a sexual orgy.

After having long love jaunts and hearing lectures of Ramona on the efficacy and salutory effects of sexual bouts, Herzgo felt strong spiritual urges. Ramona reached Berkshires, made some advances, but Herzog had happiness from within. He promised his brother that he had asked her only for dinner.