“A writer is a spectator, looking at everything with a highly critical eye.” – Bernard Malamud
Born on this date in 1914, Malamud was an American
novelist and short story writer best known for his baseball novel, The Natural,
although it was his book The
Fixer about anti-Semitism in Tsarist
Russia that won him both a National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize.
The Natural recounts
the experiences of Roy Hobbs, an individual with great "natural"
baseball talent, and spans decades of Hobb's successes and sufferings. A movie made from his books stars Robert Redford and has the
distinction of being the first film produced by TriStar Pictures. It earned 4
Academy Awards.
A young man during the Depression,
Malamud 
scraped together the money to study writing at City College of New York
and went on to earn a Master’s degree at Columbia University before teaching
for many years at Oregon State. Malamud was known for writing slowly and carefully, ultimately authoring 8 novels and 4 short story collections before
his death in 1986.
scraped together the money to study writing at City College of New York
and went on to earn a Master’s degree at Columbia University before teaching
for many years at Oregon State. Malamud was known for writing slowly and carefully, ultimately authoring 8 novels and 4 short story collections before
his death in 1986.
The son of Russian immigrants, Malamud was also known for his honest depiction of
the immigrant experience, ranging from despair and difficulty to the hope of dreams fulfilled. “When you write about life, reflect
about life," he said, "you see in others who you yourself are.”
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