Plot Summary Part I: 'Pre-game'īernard Malamud's novel, The Natural follows the career of baseball player Roy Hobbs from his first false start to his final failure. His work gained him several awards, including the National Book Award in fiction in 1959 for The Magic Barrel and in 1967 for The Fixer, and the Pulitzer Prize in fiction in 1967 for The Fixer.

While at Oregon State, he produced his most notable works including The Assistant, The Magic Barrel (1958), and A New Life (1961). The novel does, however, explore the themes of suffering and redemption that Malamud would return to in his later writings. His first novel, The Natural, written while he was at Oregon State, would be one of the few works that would not center on a Jewish protagonist. Greatly affected by World War II and the horrors of the Holocaust, Malamud engaged in an exploration of his Jewish heritage. Malamud published stories for his high school literary magazine, but his literary career did not begin until years later.

In 1962 he accepted a position at Bennington College in Vermont where he continued to teach until his death in 1986. He began his teaching career in New York City high schools and from 1949 to 1961 taught literature at Oregon State University. in 1940, he devoted his life to teaching and writing. Other than serving as a clerk at the Census Bureau in Washington, D.C. from the City College of New York, where he became interested in the Grail legend, and in 1942 a M.A. Growing up nearĮbbets Field in Brooklyn, Malamud became an avid fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers and of baseball as an American pastime. Malamud set The Natural in New York City, where he was born in 1914 and raised by his Russian Jewish immigrant parents. However, critical response grew to the point where many now consider it among Malamud's best works. The novel received mixed reviews when it first appeared, due to its complex narrative structure. Ultimately, this flawed hero will learn too late of the consequences of blind ambition. As he attempts to reach that goal, his moral courage will be tested.

The novel introduces Roy Hobbs, an initially innocent young man, who strives to be 'the best there ever was in the game' of baseball. Malamud employs forces of good and evil to complicate the choices and consequences that face his protagonist. The novel's allegorical framework blends realism and fantasy in its exploration of the theme of moral responsibility. In his Dictionary of Literary Biography article on Bernard Malamud, Joel Salzberg notes that the author 'holds a preeminence among Jewish-American writers that has consistently been reaffirmed by recent critical assessments.' Malamud, however, began his career with his popular first novel, The Natural, influenced by his love of baseball and his fascination with stories of the mythological quest for the Holy Grail.

The natural by bernard malamud