Bernard Malamud (April 26, 1914, Brooklyn, New York – March 18, 1986) was an author of novels and short stories. Along with Saul Bellow and Philip Roth, he was one of the great American Jewish authors of the 20th century. His baseball novel The Natural was adapted into a 1984 film starring Robert Redford. is the 116th day of the year (117th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... For other meanings, see Brooklyn (disambiguation). ... is the 77th day of the year (78th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar). ... Saul Bellow, born Solomon Bellows, (Lachine, Quebec, Canada, June 10, 1915 – April 5, 2005 in Brookline, Massachusetts) was an acclaimed Canadian-born American writer. ... Philip Milton Roth (born March 19, 1933, Newark, New Jersey[1]) is a famous American novelist. ... The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination of these attributes. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... This article is about the sport. ... The Natural is a 1952 novel about baseball written by Bernard Malamud. ... For the book upon which this film is based, see The Natural. ... Robert Redford (born August 18, 1936)[1] is an Academy Award-winning American motion picture director, actor, producer, businessman, model, environmentalist and philanthropist. ...

Biography

Bernard Malamud was the son of Max and Bertha (Fidelman) Malamud, Russian Jewish immigrants. A brother, Eugene, was born in 1917. From 1928 to 1932, Bernard attended Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn.^[1] During his youth, he saw many films and enjoyed relating their plots to his school friends. He was especially fond of Charlie Chaplin's comedies. The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination of these attributes. ... Erasmus Hall High School is a high school in Kings County, New York (Brooklyn) in the New York City school system. ... This article is about the New York City borough, or Kings County, New York. ... Charles Chaplin redirects here. ...

Malamud worked for a year at $4.50 a day as a teacher-in-training, before attending college on a government loan. He received his B.A. degree from City College of New York in 1936. In 1942, he obtained a Master's degree from Columbia University, writing a thesis on Thomas Hardy. He was excused from military service in WWII because he was the sole support of his widowed mother. He first worked for the Bureau of the Census in Washington D.C., then taught English in New York, mostly high school night classes for adults. “City College” redirects here. ... Alma Mater Columbia University is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. ... Thomas Hardy redirects here. ... The United States Census Bureau (officially Bureau of the Census) is a part of the United States Department of Commerce. ... Aerial photo (looking NW) of the Washington Monument and the White House in Washington, DC. Washington, D.C., officially the District of Columbia (also known as D.C.; Washington; the Nations Capital; the District; and, historically, the Federal City) is the capital city and administrative district of the United...

Starting in 1949, Malamud taught four sections of freshman composition each semester at Oregon State University (OSU), an experienced fictionalized in his 1961 novel A New Life. Because he lacked the Ph.D., he was not allowed to teach literature courses, and for a number of years his rank was that of instructor. In those days, OSU, a land grant university, little emphasized the teaching of humanities or the writing of fiction. While at OSU, he devoted 3 days out of every week to his writing, and gradually emerged as a major American author. In 1961, he left OSU to teach creative writing at Bennington College, a position he held until retirement. In 1967, he was made a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Oregon State University (OSU) is a coeducational, public research university located in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. ... A New Life is a novel by Bernard Malamud (1961). ... Land-grant universities (also called land-grant colleges or land grant institutions) are American institutions which have been designated by a Congress to receive the benefits of the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890. ... Bennington College is a liberal arts college located in Bennington, Vermont. ... The House of the Academy, Cambridge, Massachusetts. ...

In 1942, Malamud met Ann De Chiara (November 1, 1917 - March 20, 2007), an Italian-American Roman Catholic, and a 1939 Cornell University graduate. They married on November 6, 1945, despite the opposition of their respective parents. Ann typed his manuscripts and reviewed his writing. Ann and Bernard had two children, Paul (b. 1947) and Janna (b. 1952). Janna Malamud Smith is the author of a memoir about her father, titled My Father is a Book. is the 305th day of the year (306th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar (see: 1917 Julian calendar). ... is the 79th day of the year (80th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... Cornell redirects here. ... is the 310th day of the year (311th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ...

Writing career

Malamud wrote slowly and carefully, and was not prolific. His reputation is based on a mere seven novels and 54 short stories, and his 1997 Collected Stories is less than 400 pages long.

He completed his first novel in 1948, but later burned the manuscript. His first published novel was the The Natural (1952), which has become one of his best remembered and most symbolic works. The story traces the life of Roy Hobbs, an unknown middle-aged baseball player who reaches legendary status with his stellar talent. The Natural also focuses upon a recurring writing technique that marked much of his work. This novel was made into a 1984 movie starring Robert Redford (described by the film writer David Thomson as "poor baseball and worse Malamud"). The Natural is a 1952 novel about baseball written by Bernard Malamud. ... Robert Redford (born August 18, 1936)[1] is an Academy Award-winning American motion picture director, actor, producer, businessman, model, environmentalist and philanthropist. ... For other persons of the same name, see David Thomson. ...

Malamud’s second novel, The Assistant (1957), set in New York and drawing on Malamud's own childhood, is an account of the life of Morris Bober, a Jewish immigrant who owns a grocery store in Brooklyn. Although he is struggling financially, Bober takes in a drifter of dubious character. The Assistant (1957, ISBN 0374504849) is Bernard Malamuds second novel. ...

In 1967, his novel The Fixer, about anti-semitism in Tsarist Russia, won the both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. His other novels include Dubin's Lives, a powerful evocation of middle age which uses biography to recreate the narrative richness of its protagonists' lives, and The Tenants, an arguably meta-narrative on Malamud's own writing and creative struggles, which, set in New York, deals with racial issues and the emergence of black/African American literature in the American 1970s landscape. The Fixer is a 1966 novel by Bernard Malamud which is somewhat based upon the true story of a Jew, Menahem Mendel Beilis, in Tsarist Russia who was unjustly imprisoned, the notorious Beilis trial that ensued, and the international uproar that it caused, forcing Russia to back down in the... The Eternal Jew: 1937 German poster. ... Росси́йская Импе́рия, (also Imperial Russia) covers the period of Russian history from the expansion of Russia under Peter the Great into the Russian Empire stretching from the Baltic to the Pacific Ocean, to the deposition of Nicholas II of Russia, the last tsar, at the start of the Russian Revolution... The National Book Awards is one of the most preeminent literary prizes in the United States. ... The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction has been awarded since 1948 for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life. ... Dubins Lives is a novel by the American writer Bernard Malamud (1979). ... The Tenants is a 2006 drama film starring Dylan McDermott and Snoop Dogg. ... This article is about the state. ... The Color Purple by Alice Walker African American literature is the body of literature produced in the United States by writers of African descent. ...

Malamud is also renowned for his short stories, often oblique allegories often set in a dreamlike urban ghetto of immigrant Jews. Of Malamud the short story writer, Flannery O'Connor wrote: "I have discovered a short-story writer who is better than any of them, including myself." He published his first stories in 1943, "Benefit Performance" in Threshold and "The Place Is Different Now" in American Preface. In the early 1950s, his stories began appearing in Harper's Bazaar, Partisan Review, and Commentary. For other uses, see Ghetto (disambiguation). ... Mary Flannery OConnor (March 25, 1925 – August 3, 1964) was an American novelist, short-story writer and essayist. ... For the 1960s musical group, see Harpers Bizarre. ... Partisan Review was an American political and literary quarterly published from 1934 to 2003. ... There are several senses for Commentary: Informed criticism. ...

Most of the stories in his first collection, The Magic Barrel (1958), depict the search for hope and meaning within the bleak enclosures of poor urban settings. The title story focuses on the unlikely relationship of Leo Finkle, an unmarried rabbinical student, and Pinye Salzman, a colorful marriage broker. Finkle has spent most of life with his nose buried in books and therefore isn’t well-educated in life itself. However, Finkle has a greater interest – the art of romance. He engages the services of Salzman, who shows Finkle a number of potential brides from his "magic barrel" but with each picture Finkle grows more uninterested. After Salzman convinces him to meet Lily Hirschorn, Finkle realizes his life is truly empty and lacking the passion to love God or humanity. When Finkle discovers a picture of Salzman’s daughter and sees her suffering, he sets out on a new mission to save her. Other well-known stories included in the collection are: The Last Mohican, Angel Levine, Idiots First, and The Mourners. This last story focuses on Kessler, the defiant old man in need of "social security" and Gruber, the belligerent landlord who doesn't want Kessler in the tenement anymore. The Magic Barrel is a collection of short stories written by Bernard Malamud in 1958. ...

Themes

Malamud’s fiction touches lightly upon mythic elements and explores themes as initiation and isolation. His prose, like his settings, is an artful pastiche of Yiddish-English locutions, punctuated by sudden lyricism. Yiddish (ייִדיש, Jiddisch) is a Germanic language spoken by about four million Jews throughout the world. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

Writing in the last second half of the twentieth century, Malamud was well aware of the social problems of his day: rootlessness, infidelity, abuse, divorce, and more. But he also depicted love as redemptive and sacrifice as uplifting. In his writings, success often depends on cooperation between antagonists. For example, in The Mourners landlord and tenant learn from each other's anguish. In The Magic Barrel, the matchmaker worries about his "fallen" daughter, while the daughter and the rabbinic student are drawn together by their need for love and salvation. Bernard Malamud’s short story The Mourners” first appeared in Discovery in January, 1955. ...

Posthumous tributes

Philip Roth: "A man of stern morality, [Malamud was driven by] a need to consider long and seriously every last demand of an overtaxed, overtaxing conscience torturously exacerbated by the pathos of human need unabated."^{[citation needed]} Philip Milton Roth (born March 19, 1933, Newark, New Jersey[1]) is a famous American novelist. ... François Chifflart (1825-1901), The Conscience (after Victor Hugo) Conscience is an ability or faculty or sense that leads to feelings of remorse when we do things that go against our moral values, or which informs our moral judgment before performing such an action. ...

Saul Bellow, also quoting Anthony Burgess: "Well, we were here, first-generation Americans, our language was English and a language is a spiritual mansion from which no one can evict us. Malamud in his novels and stories discovered a sort of communicative genius in the impoverished, harsh jargon of immigrant New York. He was a myth maker, a fabulist, a writer of exquisite parables. The English novelist Anthony Burgess said of him that he 'never forgets that he is an American Jew, and he is at his best when posing the situation of a Jew in urban American society.' 'A remarkably consistent writer,' he goes on, 'who has never produced a mediocre novel .... He is devoid of either conventional piety or sentimentality ... always profoundly convincing.' Let me add on my own behalf that the accent of hard-won and individual emotional truth is always heard in Malamud's words. He is a rich original of the first rank."^{[citation needed]} Saul Bellow, born Solomon Bellows, (Lachine, Quebec, Canada, June 10, 1915 – April 5, 2005 in Brookline, Massachusetts) was an acclaimed Canadian-born American writer. ... Anthony Burgess (February 25, 1917 – November 22, 1993) was a British novelist, critic and composer. ...

Quotations

"I write a book or a short story three times. Once to understand her, the second time to improve her prose, and a third to compel her to say what it still must say."

"It was all those biographies in me yelling, 'We want out. We want to tell you what we've done to you.'"

"Once you've got some words looking back at you, you can take two or three-or throw them away and look for others."

"Where there's no fight for it there's no freedom. What is it Spinoza says? If the state acts in ways that are abhorrent to human nature it's the lesser evil to destroy it."

"All men are Jews, though few men know it."

"Life responds to one's moves with comic counterinventions."

"Without heroes we would all be plain people and wouldn't know how far we can go."

"Life is a tragedy full of joy."

"I write...to explain life to myself and to keep me related to men."

Awards

National Book Award

• (1959) Fiction, The Magic Barrel
• (1967) Fiction, The Fixer

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Magic Barrel is a collection of short stories written by Bernard Malamud in 1958. ... Year 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. ... The Fixer is a 1966 novel by Bernard Malamud which is somewhat based upon the true story of a Jew, Menahem Mendel Beilis, in Tsarist Russia who was unjustly imprisoned, the notorious Beilis trial that ensued, and the international uproar that it caused, forcing Russia to back down in the...

• (1967) The Fixer

O. Henry Award Year 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. ... The Fixer is a 1966 novel by Bernard Malamud which is somewhat based upon the true story of a Jew, Menahem Mendel Beilis, in Tsarist Russia who was unjustly imprisoned, the notorious Beilis trial that ensued, and the international uproar that it caused, forcing Russia to back down in the...

• (1969) Man in the Drawer

PEN/Malamud Award Also: 1969 (number) 1969 (movie) 1969 (Stargate SG-1) episode. ...

Given annually since 1988 to honor Malamud's memory, the PEN/Malamud Award recognizes excellence in the art of the short story. The award is funded in part by Malamud's $10,000 bequest to the PEN American Center. The fund continues to grow thanks to the generosity of many members of PEN and other friends, and with the proceeds from annual readings. Past winners of the award include John Updike (1988), Saul Bellow (1989), Eudora Welty (1992), Joyce Carol Oates (1996), Alice Munro (1997), Sherman Alexie (2001), Ursula K. Le Guin (2002), and Tobias Wolff (2006). PEN American Center (PEN), founded in 1922 and based in New York City, works to advance literature, to defend free expression, and to foster international literary fellowship. ... John Hoyer Updike (born March 18, 1932 in Shillington, Pennsylvania) is an American novelist, poet, short story writer and literary critic. ... Year 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar). ... Saul Bellow, born Solomon Bellows, (Lachine, Quebec, Canada, June 10, 1915 – April 5, 2005 in Brookline, Massachusetts) was an acclaimed Canadian-born American writer. ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ... Eudora Welty (b. ... Year 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1992 Gregorian calendar). ... Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American author and the Roger S. Berlind 52 Professor in the Humanities with the Program in Creative Writing at Princeton University, where she has taught since 1978. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... Alice Ann Munro, née Laidlaw (born 10 July 1931) is an award-winning Canadian short story writer who is widely considered an important writer in that form. ... For the band, see 1997 (band). ... Sherman Alexie Sherman Joseph Alexie, Jr. ... This article is about the year. ... Ursula Kroeber Le Guin [ˌɜɹsələ ˌkɹobɜɹ ləˈgWɪn] (born October 21, 1929) is an American author. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... Tobias Jonathan Ansell Wolff (born June 19, 1945, in Birmingham, Alabama) is a writer of fiction and nonfiction. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Bibliography

• Armistice (short story) (1940)
• The Natural (novel) (1952)
• The Assistant (novel) (1957)
• The Magic Barrel (short story collection) (1958)
• A New Life (novel) (1961)
• Idiots First (short story collection) (1963)
• The Jewbird(1963)
• The German Refugee (1964)
• The Fixer (novel) (1966)
• Pictures of Fidelman (short story collection) (1969)
• The Tenants (novel) (1971)
• Rembrandt's Hat (short story collection) (1974)
• Dubin's Lives (novel) (1979)
• God's Grace (novel) (1982)
• The Stories of Bernard Malamud (short story collection) (1983)
• The People and Uncollected Stories (unfinished novel short story collection) (1989)
• The Complete Stories (1997)

A white flag is traditionally used to represent a truce. ... The Natural is a 1952 novel about baseball written by Bernard Malamud. ... The Assistant (1957, ISBN 0374504849) is Bernard Malamuds second novel. ... The Magic Barrel is a collection of short stories written by Bernard Malamud in 1958. ... A New Life is a novel by Bernard Malamud (1961). ... The Fixer is a 1966 novel by Bernard Malamud which is somewhat based upon the true story of a Jew, Menahem Mendel Beilis, in Tsarist Russia who was unjustly imprisoned, the notorious Beilis trial that ensued, and the international uproar that it caused, forcing Russia to back down in the... The Tenants is a 2006 drama film starring Dylan McDermott and Snoop Dogg. ... Dubins Lives is a novel by the American writer Bernard Malamud (1979). ...

Memoirs/Biographies

• Smith, Janna Malamud, 2006. My Father is a Book: A Memoir of Bernard Malamud. New York: Houghton Mifflin.
• Davis, Philip, 2007. Bernard Malamud: A Writer’s Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

References

The New York Times is a daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed internationally. ... is the 70th day of the year (71st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... is the 335th day of the year (336th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ...

External links

• Shimada, Keiichi, Unofficial Malamud home page.
• Interview in The Paris Review.
• 1986 Real Audio interview with Robert Giroux, Malamud's friend and co-worker by Don Swaim at Wired for Books.
• The Bernard Malamud Papers at Oregon State University.
• Photos of the first edition of The Natural.
• Bernard Malamud and the movies on IMDB

Don Swaim is an American journalist, writer, and broadcaster. ... Wired for Books <http://wiredforbooks. ... Oregon State University (OSU) is a coeducational, public research university located in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. ...

Sources

• Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2004.
• Contemporary Literary Criticism
• Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 28: Twentieth Century American-Jewish Fiction Writers. A Bruccoli Clark Layman Book. Edited by Daniel Walden, Pennsylvania State University. The Gale Group. 1984. pp. 166-175.
• Smith, Janna Malamud. My Father Is a Book. Houghton-Mifflin Company. New York:New York. 2006

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