Sensible reflections on the writer's life from a modest master of
postwar fiction. While widely respected and, thanks to the popular
success of The Natural (1952), more widely read than many of his
contemporaries, the novelist and short-story writer Bernard Malamud
(1914-86) has remained a somewhat enigmatic figure. As editors
Cheuse (The Light Possessed, 1990. etc.) and Delbanco (In the Name
of Mercy, 1995, etc.) explain in their loving commentaries, Malamud
was a private man, not known for blowing his own horn. He did,
however, produce a significant body of reflections on literature,
the craft of writing, and his own experiences, now gathered in this
agreeable volume. Malamud's best pieces explore the singularities
of his formation. In a lecture at Bennington College in 1984,
Malamud recollects his long apprenticeship as a high school teacher
and as a professor at Oregon State University. In a Paris Review
interview he covers this territory in more discursive fashion,
interspersing some subtle yet striking remarks about his works.
Having called his novel Pictures of Fidelman "a book about finding
a vocation," Malamud wryly asks the reader to "forgive the soft
impeachment." But essay-length enjoinders to young writers to "take
chances" become extended cliches. Still, cliches can have their
virtues, and Malamud's have the not inconsiderable virtue of
integrity. This quality shines through when Malamud considers his
own life experience, for instance, from the perspective of his
relation to his Jewish identity. It shines as well in a pair of
addresses, given when Malamud served as president of the PEN
American Center, which forcefully make the case for the importance
of writing as a humanistic, civilizing endeavor. In such pieces,
the quiet moral courage at the heart of Malamud's work, his
stubborn devotion to the integrity of an artist's unique,
individual vision, are thrown into bold relief, reminding us of how
much we miss that humane, modest, intelligent voice. (Kirkus
Reviews)
Designed to provide writers with insights into the way a master
thinks about and practices his craft, this collection includes
discussions of the novel, the short story, subject matter, work in
progress, revision, and the Jewish experience. Malamud also
discusses the responsibilities of the writer.
General
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