Durbeej, Jerry K.

In A Wizard of Earthsea and The Farthest Shore, Ursula K. Le Guin presents the theme of selfhood, of maturity, and of identity through the character heroes of Ged and Arren. Of these two, Ged experiences the quest for selfhood on two levels: first, from boy to manhood, and then from manhood to the awareness of death. Both novels deal with the struggle to create, which is primarily a struggle with self, with one's own powers, and with the need to control these powers and their consequences. I have examined WOE through the perspective of Ged's coming of age, his initiation and apprenticeship, and his relationship with the "shadow." I have discussed the shadow as a metaphor for darkness in relation to modern man's age of despair and loss of hope. In this area I have referenced ideas by Carl G. Jung. In TFS I have explored Ged's second cycle of selfhood through his encounter with death and how this encounter is seen as an abyss providing the ultimate confrontation which can guide the spirit toward creation, regeneration, and redemption. From this perspective I have explored the abyss through some discussion by Martin Heidegger. Arren's quest for selfhood is also examined, on a secondary level, through his relationship with Ged and his destiny for kingship.

Within the past two centuries, massive industrialization, technological and scientific advances, wars, diseases, failures in social systems, and religious, ethnic, and political conflicts have produced an existential angst that has saturated the collective consciousness of modern man. The atrocities of World Wars I and II induced European and American authors and artists to confront this state of disillusionment, anxiety, loneliness, fear, and dread; consequently, much of our modern literature reflects this nihilistic darkness. In this state of grave doubts and uncertainties, the modern man finds himself alienated and disconnected from the very essences that ground him. Scholars of literature, philosophy, and the various arts and social sciences, having examined this contemporary dilemma, find just cause to question our western belief that science, technology, and materialism put the world in order. The further indictment is that these rational and materialistic forces have usurped the place of God and dismantled the ancient mythologies that once grounded our existence. This study examines the selected work of Saul Bellow and argues that his recurring themes of suffering, compassion, humanity, and renewal of the human spirit are antithetical to this collective existential angst. My argument introduces the doctrine of Existentialism and then explores the basic existentialist theory of Jean-Paul Sartre. From this platform, I later establish that Bellow takes a stand against this collective nihilism in favor of community and the celebration of life that are defined by a moral framework. Bellow's most representative novel in this vein of existential dislocation is Dangling Man.