The Adventures of Augie March

The Adventures of Augie March is a 1953 novel by Saul Bellow. In the novel, Bellow’s third, the eponymous title character chronicles his eventful life from an underprivileged childhood in Chicago to his waning wanderlust in Paris. The novel is critically acclaimed and won the 1954 National Book Award for Fiction. Bellow was a lauded author in his lifetime, winning prestigious awards like the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He was awarded the 1976 Nobel Prize for Literature, in part for The Adventures of Augie March. Other works by Bellow include Seize the Day, Henderson the Rain King, and Humboldt’s Gift.

This guide refers to the 1996 Penguin Books edition of the novel.

Content Warning: This guide refers to the source text’s depiction of ableist ideas that were prevalent at the time that The Adventures of Augie March was written.

Plot Summary

During the early 20th century, young Augie March lives in Chicago with his Jewish family in a low-income, underprivileged Polish neighborhood. Augie’s father abandoned his wife and three sons, so Augie’s mother supports the family as a seamstress.