Humboldt's Gift
Humboldt's Gift won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1976, Bellow's first entry after three previous entries were finalists. In the novel, Humboldt says, and Citrine agrees, that the prize is "a fictitious newspaper advertising award given by swindlers and illiterates". When asked about the description after receiving the prize, Bellow laughed and said he would accept the award "in dignified silence."