Seize the Day

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Seize the Day is a novella by Saul Bellow that follows a day in the life of a failed salesman confronting personal and financial ruin in mid-20th-century New York.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Seize the Day canonical 2

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (44)

Predicate Object
instanceOf film
novella
author Saul Bellow NERFINISHED
basedOn Seize the Day NERFINISHED
centralConflict Tommy Wilhelm’s struggle with failure and responsibility
centralRelationship Tommy Wilhelm and his father Dr. Adler
countryOfOrigin United States of America
surface form: United States
criticalReception highly acclaimed
explores middle-aged crisis
tension between inner life and social expectations
firstPublicationYear 1956
genre literary fiction
novella
hasAdaptation Seize the Day (1986 film) NERFINISHED
hasCharacter Dr. Adler NERFINISHED
Dr. Tamkin NERFINISHED
Margaret NERFINISHED
hasLiteraryStatus classic of 20th-century American literature
includedIn The Collected Stories of Saul Bellow (some editions) NERFINISHED
language English
literaryForm realist fiction
literaryMovement postwar American literature
mainCharacter Tommy Wilhelm NERFINISHED
motif money and speculation
urban isolation
narrativePerspective third-person limited
narrativeTimeSpan single day
notableFor intense interior monologue
psychological depth
originalMedium print
pageCountApprox 118
partOf Saul Bellow’s early works
protagonistOccupation failed salesman
publisher The Viking Press
surface form: Viking Press
settingLocation New York City
settingPeriod mid-20th century
theme American Dream NERFINISHED
alienation
existential anxiety
father–son conflict
financial ruin
identity crisis
personal failure
titleOrigin Latin phrase "carpe diem"

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Saul Bellow notableWork Seize the Day
Newsies (stage musical) notableSong Seize the Day