Ronald Wise's Reviews > The Dean's December

This is the most powerful of Bellow's novels I've read to date. An aging journalist turned college dean, caught up in situations which emphasize the personal ramifications of the social political storms raging at home and the unforgiving communist bureaucracy of his wife's homeland of Rumania. Haunted by hostile politically correct reactions to his recent freelance articles, Albert Corde maintains a caring and moral course while questioning his own motivations. A chance encounter with a childhood friend oddly provides some answers. This was a timely read for me, while hearing of efforts by neo-conservatives to make the Public Broadcasting Corporation more "balanced", and wondering if there wasn't such a thing as a generally accepted "truth" that becomes more clearly defined with increasing information. This came to my list when all of Bellow's books were added to my reading list following my enjoyment of The Dangling Man.