Ouch ...

... The long, unhappy life of Saul Bellow. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Bellow was a literary Bluebeard, killing off his ex-wives in devastating portraits in his novels. His fourth wife, Alexandra, whose unworldliness he limned so tenderly in The Dean’s December, he treats in Ravelstein, after their divorce, as a figure of pure evil, as if she were the twin sister of Eva Braun. Vengeance, the Italians say, is a dish best served cold; Bellow garnished the dish with viciousness and served it on the pages of his novels.