| The Actual | |
| Author: | Saul Bellow |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Publisher: | Viking/Penguin Books |
| Release Date: | 1997 |
| Media Type: | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages: | 104 |
| Isbn: | 0-670-86075-1 |
| Dewey: | 813/.52 21 |
| Congress: | PS3503.E4488 A63 1997 |
| Oclc: | 36017249 |
The Actual is a 1997 novella by the American author Saul Bellow.
Like most of Bellow's fiction, the story centers on the lives of a group of passionate and anxious people living in Chicago. Harry Trellman has formed a friendship with the fabulously wealthy Sigmund Adletsky. Sigmund aims to bring Harry together with Harry's childhood sweetheart, Amy Wustrin.
Publishers Weekly called it "(a) kind of an affectionate, latter-day 'Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock", in which "plot (is) secondary".[1] Kirkus Reviews considered it to be "witty" and "sharp", with "vividly sketched characters" but "perfunctory" plotting.[2] In the Guardian, Martin Amis called it "scrupulously written".[3]