The Natural A Novel
The Natural by Bernard Malamud is a reprint edition published by Macmillan in 1952, featuring 237 pages in English. This novel marks Malamud’s first foray into fiction and is recognized as a significant work in the realm of baseball literature. It explores the life of a remarkably talented player during the old daylight baseball era, intertwining themes of ambition and the complexities of the human experience.
Readers will find a narrative that delves into the intersection of sports and magical realism, reflecting on the cultural significance of baseball in American society. The story captures the essence of the protagonist’s journey, showcasing the challenges and triumphs that accompany his extraordinary abilities. With elements of fantasy and historical context, this edition invites readers to engage with Malamud’s unique storytelling style and his insightful commentary on the sport and its mythology.
Official synopsis Publisher
The classical novel (and basis for the acclaimed film starring Robert Redford) now in a new edition
Introduction by Kevin Baker
The Natural, Bernard Malamud’s first novel, published in 1952, is also the first—and some would say still the best—novel ever written about baseball.
In it Malamud, usually appreciated for his unerring portrayals of postwar Jewish life, took on very different material—the story of a superbly gifted “natural” at play in the fields of the old daylight baseball era—and invested it with the hardscrabble poetry, at once grand and altogether believable, that runs through all his best work. Four decades later, Alfred Kazin’s comment still holds true: “Malamud has done something which—now that he has done it!—looks as if we have been waiting for it all our lives. He has really raised the whole passion and craziness and fanaticism of baseball as a popular spectacle to its ordained place in mythology.”
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