Article: BELLOW ON BOSTON? DON'T ASK The BU Nobel laureate talks about his family, fiction -- and the trials of taking out the trash

Saul Bellow, 80, is not exactly fond of being interviewed. A Pulitzer Prize here (1975, for "Humboldt's Gift"), a Nobel Prize there (1976), and he's answered enough questions already. Also, he is at heart as much a comic as a pundit. And he has 15 separate books of fiction in print in English, everything from "The Adventures of Augie March" (gritty) to "Henderson the Rain King" (absurdly comic). Having said so much for so long makes him a man not of few words but of entirely self-chosen words.

This leads to exchanges not entirely under the control of the questioner:

"What was the most difficult part of leaving Chicago and moving to Brookline?" "Tuesdays {pause for effect}. I can't get ...

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