These great Christian houses: The ethos of suffering in Malamud, O\u27Connor, and Bellow

This study explores the ethos of suffering in Bernard Malamud\u27s The Assistant, Flannery O\u27Connor\u27s Parker\u27s Back, and Saul Bellow\u27s Herzog. All three works present characters who are searchers, dreamers. These characters are obsessed with their desires and are driven, at times, by forces unknown to themselves. They are in the grip of a compulsion to find a higher knowledge, a new way of living. The spiritual journey of each character illustrates a post-modern quest for (and a questioning of) faith and survival