The Magic Worlds of Bernard Malamud

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION Evelyn Avery In an age that prizes diversity, Bernard Malamud's voice is uniquely universal. Though he combines the tones of Eastern European Jews, struggling immigrant Americans, bumbling academics, ghetto blacks, and even talking animals, the author has an extensive audience that cuts across ethnic, regional, and national boundaries. In the best literary tradition , Malamud, a humanist, uses the particular to express the universal . While such characters as Morris Bober, Willie Spearmint, and Sy Levin are ethnically identifiable, they experience "what it means to be human," to struggle against evil impulses and act on the good. The blend of universal themes, unforgettable characters, and a distinctive writing style has made Malamud popular with general readers as well as scholars . The recipient of two National Book Awards, the subject of numerous books and studies, the inspiration for The Malamud Society and national conferences, Bernard Malamud is recognized internationally as a major author. The son of Russian Jewish parents, he drew upon his immigrant Brooklyn background to people his early work, The Magic Barrel (1958), The Assistant (1957), and Idiots First (1963). The struggling "little Jew" even appears in Oregon and Italy, often as the conscience of the general community. Despite however, the use of specific settings and dialects, Malamud resists the ethnic label. He has described himself as a "writer who happens to be Jewish." Like William Faulkner or Nathaniel Hawthorne , whose regional worlds speak to all readers, Malamud has created an ethnic community with universal values. On the surface, however, not all of Malamud's fiction can be described as ethnic or Jewish, for in The Natural (1952), A New Life (1961), Dubin's Lives (1979), and God's Grace (1982), he experimented. He left New York City with its refugees, victims , marginal types and explored Europe, New England, Oregon, and a post-nuclear holocaust island. Readers familiar with Malamud's xi xu INTRODUCTION "Jewish" fiction, for example, may be surprised by the "exotic" God's Grace, but will discover in these essays that all of his fiction is connected and is part of his distinctive vision. Authored by scholars from diverse academic, theoretical, and literary backgrounds, the essays in this volume can be divided into three broad categories: Malamud's life, individual writings, and comparisons of several works. Thus, Part I contains Paul Malamud's recollections of his father , Daniel Stern's account of his close friendship with the author, Joel Salzberg's evaluation of the Bernard Malamud-Rosemarie Beck correspondence , portraits by his colleagues Nicholas Delbanco and Alan Cheuse at Bennington College, and Chester Garrison and Warren Hovland at Oregon State, and a eulogy by Cynthia Ozick. The second section contains Sanford Pinsker's reflection on A New Life, Walter Shear's study of Dubin's Lives, Edward Abramson's Buddhist reading of The Assistant, Karen Polster's analysis of "The Last Mohican," and David Mesher's examination of God's Grace. Part III explores patterns in Malamud's fiction, in which Lillian Kremer investigates Yiddish archetypes; Eileen H. Watts examines the Holocaust legacy; Alan Cheuse analyzes "Romance and Desire"; Victoria Aarons studies structure and style and Evelyn Avery compares the kindred neshamas of Bernard Malamud and Cynthia Ozick. A final essay by Daniel Walden focuses on Malamud's moral characters, while Eileen Watts presents a comprehensive annotated bibliography of works about Malamud written between 1993 and 1999. Taken together the essays examine the Jewish, American, and universal aspects of Malamud's art, applying fresh approaches (such as Buddhist) to old favorites such as The Assistant and a Biblical perspective to Malamud's futuristic God's Grace. I feel particularly fortunate to be able to include several intimate essays by those very close to Malamud. In a vivid, moving memoir, Paul Malamud remembers his dad in Oregon, a disciplined writer and teacher but also a caring father, reliable colleague, and courageous activist in the face of injustice . In the son's memoir we see the father's wry smile, his delight in nature, the classroom, and his social circle. Contrary to the image of A New Life, the Malamuds enjoyed Oregon, maintaining their connections there after they returned East. Part of a longer work about himself, this essay focuses on his father and reveals the affection between father and son. Affection and respect also characterized Malamud's relationships with friends. An extensive correspondence, edited by Joel Salzberg, illuminates the friendship between Rosemarie Beck, artist, and Bernard Malamud , writer. From 1958 when they met at the Yaddo art...