"The Adventures of
Augie March" is a novel by Saul Bellow. It was published in 1953.
The story describes the life and
times of
Augie March, his growth and development from childhood to adulthood. Augie drifts from one situation to another, be it his jobs, women and education, in a kind of free-wheeling manner. As the story unfolds, he is without a father, one of three sons brought up by a feeble-minded Jewish mother almost losing her eyesight. His other brothers are Simon and George who is mentally abnormal. Together with a hard-knock grandmother, they live on Chicago's West Side.
Augie attends college but does not finish. He is much encouraged into education but never seems to make it although he reads a great deal for himself and develops quite a philosophy of life. However, something always seems to happen before he can seriously consider returning to education.
His path and lifestyle seem to be partly self-made and partly comes around through chance from people in his life. The first, and perhaps most important, is his Machiavellian Grandma Lausch, then he nearly gets adopted by a wealthy couple, the Renlings from Evanston, who spoil him.
There is William Einhorn, the brilliant and wealthy cripple for whom he becomes his general assistant, helping in a dog training parlour, and working for his brother in Union organizing.
Augie attracts and gets involved with different women. There is a casual acquaintance; as a youth he gets engaged to a wealthy cousin of his brother's wife. However, he was dumped because of a scandal which is not his doing. This was followed by a casual affair with the hotel maid.
It is Thea Fenchel who swept him off his feet. He met her when living with the rich Renlings. Thea takes him to Mexico, where she plans to divorce her husband. Thea attempts to convince Augie to join her in her impossible adventures. Life in Mexico was a disaster, where he put up with lizard and snake hunting, and suffered a terrible accident on the horse. Eventually, Augie and Thea drifted apart. He returns to the US and meets a millionaire, Robey, who hires him to help write a masterwork about the nature of a person. Then he meets Stella Chesney, a showgirl.
Shortly, Augie joins the merchant navy in the war. Unfortunately, his ship sunk after it is torpedoed. He suffers a difficult period in a lifeboat which he shares with a lunatic scientist Bateshaw. After he is rescued, he leaves the service, and returns to Chicago where he subsequently meets up with Stella and marries her.
He then goes to Europe to write his 'memoir' wherein he records his encounters with people who he thinks have shaped his life. The couple lives in quite dubious existence in France in which Augie is involved in some shady business deals while Stella attempts to pursue an acting career.