“If Love Is Love, It’s Free”: A Vedantic Reading of Saul Bellow’s Seize the Day

Abstract

"Seize the Day (1957) is inarguably one of Saul Bellow’s shortest and best novels.... commentators have, over the years, offered diverse critical opinions, varying from psychoanalytical to sociological and from philosophical to cultural. Amid this variety of existing studies, critics have neglected examining Seize the Day in light of the Hindu philosophy of Advaitvedanta, which has influenced writers of all genres worldwide by exploring the concepts of the cosmic “Wholeness” and “Universal Brotherhood.” This article gauges the growth of the protagonist, Tommy Wilhelm, from an ahmkari (egoist) to a samkari (humanist) in the light of the Vedantic philosophy of advaita (non-dualism). In the process, the article attempts to demonstrate how Wilhelm’s consciousness expands as the narrative action of the novel gravitates towards the final resolution signifying the inexorable cosmic oneness of all of humankind."