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Autobiographical elements

The character of Herzog in many ways echoes a fictionalized Saul Bellow. Similarities between Herzog and Bellow include:

• Both grew up in Canada.
• Both are Jewish.
• Both have parents who had emigrated from Russia (St. Petersburg).
• Both lived in Chicago for significant periods of time.
• Both were divorced twice (at the time of writing; Bellow would go on to divorce four of his five wives.)
• Both were sons of bootlegger fathers.
• The character of Valentine Gersbach is based on Jack Ludwig, a long-time friend of Bellow who had an affair with Bellow's second wife, Sondra^{[citation needed]}.