Herzog dearly reminded me of Birdman, the washed-up movie star who desired to make a return to stardom as a playwright in a film of the same name. Early on you notice that his head isn't entirely together. His thoughts are a bit jumbled and he may have trouble differentiating between what's real and what's not. Interesting ideas about the world and the evolution of society are cleverly grinded into shards of intellectual oddities through Saul Bellow's decision to use stream-of-consciousness in a quasi-epistolary form. Herzog not only writes letters to his family and friends, but to historical figures and philosophers, such as Eisenhower and Nietchze, which are randomly placed inside the body of the text. While this may cause some head-scratching torture for readers who prefer linear plots and less complicated subjects, it's worth a try for others who enjoy more challenging and experimental work.
At its heart, Herzog is the character study of a deranged professor going through some unoriginal domestic issues, but what it lacks in originality it makes up for in its presentation of an unusual, yet brilliant mind. Some time ago Herzog lost his job, and just recently he'd gone through a vicious divorce with children involved. Faced with this double blow, he must find a way to climb out of the doldrums created by his overly analytical mind. He decides to vent his frustrations through the release of letter-writing, though he never actually sends them to people. If it weren't for the cultural richness that Saul blessed his character with, I'd be more inclined to call it a two-starred, 400-page bitch fest.
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