The victim.著者Saul Bellow

The Victim (1947) is Nobel Laureate Saul Bellow's second novel. Bellow was not particularly proud of his earliest works. Later in his career, he called Dangling Man his M.A. and The Victim his Ph.D.

The protagonist, Asa Leventhal, is a Jewish man of early middle age. While his wife is away on family business, Leventhal is haunted by an old acquaintance who unjustly claims that Leventhal has been the cause of his misfortune. The story explores the men's evolving relationship, all while Leventhal is struggling to deal with his own family problems.

The book combines existential themes with anti-Semitism in a story of a Jew who inadvertently causes a Gentile to lose his job, prompting recriminations, persecution, and a painful reassessment of how a good man should live.