Saul Bellow Response to Nietzsche Philosophy in The Victim

Friedrich Nietzsche ideas on modern nihilism have consolidated Saul Bellowʹs visions in The Victim which portrays human anxieties and worries in the modern era. Nietzsche considers Christian morality infertile and emphasizes that it has originated from life-denying interpretations that have ultimately resulted in European nihilism. He admits nihilism with open arms and contends that there are two kinds of nihilism: passive and active. The active one can save modern man, he asserts, because it enables the seeker to go beyond all moral prejudices and judgments. Likewise, Bellow suggests dealing with the problem of nihilism, accepting nihilistic conditions, and then trying to leave them behind in the same way that Nietzsche does. He depicts the nihilistic inclinations of modern human, especially after the World Wars, declares his objections to them, and endeavors to discern a way for overwhelming this predicament. He emphasizes the significance of "humanity", as the common principle of humankind, to remove modern anxieties.