HENDERSON THE RAIN KING - Chapter 1 - What Made Me Take This Trip to Africa

Aug 25, 2026

Uploaded by Hazel

Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow opens with Henderson reflecting on why he travels to Africa, offering no simple explanation as life grows more complicated. At age fifty-five, he confronts a crush of personal history—family, relationships, money, habits, prejudices, and inner turmoil—while trying to make sense of his condition. The narrative moves through inherited wealth, Ivy League education, and a life shaped by illness-like perceptions, marriages, war, and repeated attempts at renewal.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryStory & Novel

FormatPDF

Pages331

Reading Time8 h 30 min

AccessFree to download

Chapter I

What made me take this trip to Africa?

Grief, pressure, and the rush of the past

Money, books, and forgiveness

Saul Bellow HENDERSON THE RA IN KING Contents Chapter I Chapter II Chapter III Chapter IV Chapter V Chapter VI Chapter VII Chapter VIII Chapter IX Chapter X Chapter XI Chapter XII Chapter XIII Chapter XIV Chapter XV Chapter XVI Chapter XVII Chapter XVIII Chapter XIX Chapter XX Chapter XXI Chapter XXII PENGUIN MODERN CLASSICS HENDERSON THE RAIN KING Saul Bellow (1915–2005) is the only novelist to receive three National book awards, for The Adventures ofAugie March, Herzog, and Mr Sammler ’s Planet. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel Humboldt’s Gift. The Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to him in 1976 ‘for the human understanding and subtle analysis of contemporary culture that are combined in his work.’ In 1990, Mr Bellow was presented with the National Book Award Foundation Medal for distinguished contribution to American letters. He has also received the National Medal of Arts. His books include Dangling Man (1944), The Victim (1947), The Adventures of Augie March (1953), Seize the Day (1956), Henderson the Rain King (1959), Herzog (1964), Mosby ’s Memoirs (1969), Mr Sammler ’s Planet (1970), Humboldt’s Gift (1975), To Jerusalem and Back (1976), The Dean ’s December (1982), Him With His Foot in His Mouth and Other Stories (1984), More Die of Heartbreak (1987), A Theft (1989), The Bellarosa Connection (1989), Something to Remember Me By (1991), It All Adds Up (1994), The Actual (1997), Ravelstein (2000) and Collected Stories (2001) . To my son, Gregory I What made me take this trip to Africa? There is no quick explanation. Things got worse and worse and worse and pretty soon they were too complicated. When I think of my condition at the age of fifty-five when I bought the ticket, all is grief. The facts begin to crowd me and soon I get a pressure in the chest. A disorderly rush begins—my parents, my wives, my girls, my children, my farm, my animals, my habits, my money, my music lessons, my drunkenness, my prejudices, my brutality, my teeth, my face, my soul! I have to cry,“No, no, get back, curse you, let me alone!” But how can they let me alone? They belong to me. They are mine. And they pile into me from all sides. It turns into chaos. However, the world which I thought so mighty an oppressor has removed its wrath from me. But if I am to make sense to you people and explain why I went to Africa I must face up to the facts. I might as well start with the money. I am rich. From my old man I inherited three million dollars after taxes, but I thought myself a bum and had my reasons, the main reason being that I behaved like a bum. But privately when things got very bad I often looked into books to see whether I could find some helpful words, and one day I read,“The forgiveness of sins is perpetual and righteousness first is not required.” This impressed me so deeply that I went around saying it to myself. But then I forgot which book it was. It was one of thousands left by my father, who had also written a number of them. And I searched through dozens of volumes but all that turned up was money, for my father had used currency for bookmarks—whatever he happened to have in his pockets—fives, tens, or twenties. Some of the discontinued bills of thirty years ago turned up, the big yellowbacks. For old times’ sake I was glad to see them and locking the library door to keep out the children I spent the afternoon on a ladder shaking out books and the money spun to the floor. But I never found that statement about forgiveness. Next order of business: I am a graduate of an Ivy League university—I see no reason to embarrass my alma mater by naming her. If I hadn’t been a Henderson and my father ’s son, they would have thrown me out. At birth I weighed fourteen pounds, and it was a tough delivery. Then I grew up. Six feet four inches tall. Two hundred and thirty pounds. An enormous head, rugged, with hair like Persian lambs’ fur. Suspicious eyes, usual

FAQs

What autobiographical details does Henderson give early in Chapter I?

He notes his Ivy League education, his difficult birth and physical description, his role as the sole survivor among three children, and the impact of his father’s effort to forgive him.

Aug 25, 2026

Uploaded by Hazel