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April 6, 2005

Randy Nehrt
Pat McGuckin

White Says Saul Bellow Death Leaves Names
of Just Two Living Authors on State Library Building
Bradbury, Terkel last of 35 whose names are etched on Library

SPRINGFIELD — Secretary of State and State Librarian Jesse White today mourned the death of legendary Illinois author Saul Bellow and said Bellow's passing leaves the names of just two living authors, Ray Bradbury and Studs Terkel, etched on the fourth floor frieze of the Illinois State Library building.

"We are proud of our state's rich literary heritage, and the great Saul Bellow contributed enormously to that heritage," White said. "Though he was a native Canadian, Bellow will be fondly remembered in Illinois for his long tenure as a faculty member of the University of Chicago. Many of his works were wholly or partially set in the Windy City. Bellow was one of the literary giants of the 20th century, winning the Nobel Prize for Literature, the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for his landmark work Humboldt's Gift and was the first novelist to win three National Book Awards. Saul Bellow was a true Renaissance man, known as a novelist, short story writer, essayist, dramatist, editor and translator. All Illinoisans thank Saul for using his remarkable gifts to enrich our lives."

One of the unique features of the Illinois State Library, which opened in 1990, is the fourth floor frieze etched with the names of 35 of Illinois' most distinguished authors. The inscriptions recognize both living and deceased authors who are either Illinois natives or whose works are closely identified with the state. With Bellow's passing, only Ray Bradbury, who penned the classic Fahrenheit 451, and Louis "Studs" Terkel, known for his works of oral history, are still alive from among the 35 authors whose names are on the building.

The State Library, located at 300 South 2nd Street in Springfield, was renamed the Gwendolyn Brooks Building in 2003. Brooks, the late Illinois poet laureate, is also one of the authors whose name is on the frieze. The others are: Jane Addams; George Ade; Nelson Algren; Sherwood Anderson; Paul Angle; Frank Baum; Black Hawk; Cyrus Colter; Theodore Dreiser; Finley Peter Dunne; Eliza Farnham; James T. Farrell; Edna Ferber; Henry Blake Fuller; Hamlin Garland; Lorraine Hansberry; Ben Hecht; Ernest Hemingway; Robert Herrick; James Jones; Ring Lardner; Abraham Lincoln; Vachel Lindsay; Edgar Lee Masters; William Maxwell; Frank Norris; Donald Culross Peattie; Elia Peattie; Carl Sandburg; Upton Sinclair and Richard Wright.