Miscellany on Bernard Malamud

Last modified on December 14, 2001

        When Leo's eyes fell upon the cards, he counted six spread out in Salzman's hand.
        "So few?" he asked in disappointment.
        "You wouldn't believe me how much cards I got in my office," Salzman replied.  "The drawers are already filled to the top, so I keep them now in a barrel, but is every girl good for a new rabbi?"

"The Magic Barrel"

         Since this is not a cabinet but a "barrel," I have not set up strict categories for each item.   For my convenience, however, I have roughly listed the items, I think, in the order of [Search Tools], [Biographical], [Articles and Book Reviews], [Educational], [Commercial], and [Others].   In addition, I have made a very subjective rating of each item: The larger means highly recommended; means recommended; and no red ball means worth visiting.
         If you know a web site related to the author Bernard Malamud and not listed below, please let me know. (03/24/2000)

External Links:

1. Bernard Malamud on Google: Bernard Malamud
2. Bernard Malamud on Yahoo! (Authors): Bernard Malamud
3. Bernard Malamud on Alta Vista: Bernard Malamud
4. Bernard Malamud on Looksmart.com: Bernard Malamud
5. Bernard Malamud on MSN: Bernard Malamud
6. Bernard Malamud on Amazon.com: Bernard Malamud
7. Bernard Malamud on American Literature on the Web: Bernard Malamud Page on "American Literature on the Web" created and maintained by Prof. Ishikawa at Nagasaki Gaigo Univ., Japan.
   A brief biography, introductory comment, and nearly 20 links to the sites related to Malamud.
   Prof. Ishikawa's awesome project American Literature on the Web is highly recommended.
8. Bernard Malamud on Catharton: Bernard Malamud Page on Catharton.com. Lists websites, message boards, chat rooms, and books by Malamud.
   Of particular interest may be the message boards specifically for Malamud fans and scholars. I hope that many will visit the site and it flourishes. (May 23, 2000)



9. Bernard Malamud Papers: Front Page of Bernard Malamud Papers, Special Collection, Oregon State University Library.
   The "Bern Malamud: An Instinctive Friendship" contains a memoir of Prof. Chester Garrison, Malamud's former colleague during his Oregon State College years and lifelong friend. [In it he refers to me, I assume, as "a Japanese scholar" who interviewed him!] The "Catalogue" lists the library's holdings related to Malamud. Especially of interest may be Prof. Garrison's correspondence with Malamud and the videotapes of the interviews carried out by Prof. Suzanne Clark. They contain an interview of James Groshong, supposedly a model of Joseph Bucket in A New Life.
10. English Department Photographs (P 222): A picture of Bernard Malamud (ca. 1960) in Oregon State University Archives. Includes a brief biography on Malamud.
11. THE BERNARD MALAMUD COLLECTION: The Ransom Center, the University of Texas, introduces their Bernard Malamud Archive.



12. MALAMUD, Bernard: A brief biography from Compton's Encyclopedia online.
13. MALAMUD, Bernard: A brief biography from MSN Encarta. It contains a few links and a photo. One of the links leads you to their search engine of Bernard Malamud.
14. Bernard Malamud (1914-1986): A brief biography from Bedford/St. Martin's.
15. Bernard Malamud (1914-1986): A brief biography and a picture from the Hutchinson Encyclopedia.
16. Malamud, Bernard: A brief biography in The Columbia Encyclopedia from infoplease.com.



17. Bernard Malamud: An unsigned biography and assessment of Malamud's (earlier) works in a "Jewish" perspective, from the "archives" of Temple Emanu-El, New York City. I highly recommend to visit the temple; they have very good virtual exhibitions.
18. Keith Manring, Malamud: An article dealing with Malamud's relationship with Corvallis, Oregon and Oregon State University in the Corvallis Gazette-Times Archives. Contains a few very brief excerpts from A New Life.



19. WALTER GOODMAN, "The Return of the Schlemiel" (September 28, 1997): A book review of The Compete Stories of Bernard Malamud from the New York Times Archives.
    The page has the links to the following articles in the Archives:
    
    • The Text of "Armistice," Malamud's first story in the collection.
    • ISRAEL SHENKER, "For Malamud, It's Story" (October 3, 1971):
      An interview about "The Tenants" (1971).
    • MERVYN ROTHSTEIN, "BERNARD MALAMUD, AUTHOR, DIES AT 71" (March 20, 1986):
      An obituary.
    • Philip Roth, "PICTURES OF MALAMUD" (April 20, 1986):
      Philip Roth's memoir.
    • Bernard Malamud, "Reflections of a Writer: Long Work, Short Life" (March 20, 1988):
      Malamud's "memoir" derived from a 1984 speech at Bennington College.
    • Harry Sylvester, "With Greatest of Ease" (August 26, 1952):
      A review of The Natural.
    • William Goyen, "A World of Bad Luck" (April 28, 1957):
      A review of The Assistant.
    • CHARLES POORE, "Books of The Times" (May 10, 1958):
      A review of The Magic Barrel.
    • ELIOT FREMONT-SMITH, "Books of the Times: Yakov's Choice" (August 29, 1966):
      A review of The Fixer.
    • CHRISTOPHER LEHMANN-HAUPT, "Books of The Times" (February 2, 1979):
      A review of Dubin's Lives.
    • John Leonard, "Books Of The Times" (August 23, 1982):
      A review of God's Grace.
    • Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, "BOOKS OF THE TIMES" (October 11, 1983):
      A review of The Stories of Bernard Malamud.
    • BETTE PESETSKY, "SCHLEMIEL OF THE GOLDEN WEST" (November 19, 1989):
      A review of The People and Uncollected Stories.



20. "The Complete Stories by Bernard Malamud": A text of "Armistice" in the collection from charlotte.com.
21. Reading: Excerpts from Novels and Short Stories: A "The End of Life: Exploring Death in America" page. It has a link to an excerpt from God's Grace.



22. John Hoh, "The Natural": A brief book review of The Natural from Bookideas.com.
23. Articles written for AUFBAU by Leonard J. Lehrman #01: Kulturspiegel: Malamud's Angel Levine (AUFBAU 61:12 June 9, 1995, p. 10). [Original title: On the Musicalization of Malamud's Angel Levine] [slightly revised; May 31, 1995] .
    Describes how "Angel Levine" and some other stories were made into a musical.
24. Articles written for AUFBAU by Leonard J. Lehrman #21: The Works of Bernard Malamud--On Stage, in Films, in Music, and at the Bookstore (AUFBAU 62:18 Aug. 30, 1996, p. 15) [original title: Bernard Malamud On Stage, On Film, and at the Bookstore] August 21, 1996.
    Describes the musicalization of "Suppose a Wedding," "Idiots First," and "The Magic Barrel." Also refers to The Fixer and some other novels and short stories.
    Dr. Lehrman kindly let me know the following websites where you can see the production pictures and summaries of operas based on Malamud: "Idiots First," "Notes from a Lady at a Dinner Party," and "Suppose A Wedding." [12/14/2001]
25. Articles written for AUFBAU by Leonard J. Lehrman #42: "Malamud Stories (Almost) Complete" [original title: New Collection of Bernard Malamud: The (Almost) Complete Stories] reviewed by Leonard Lehrman (AUFBAU 63:20 Sept. 26, 1997, p. 15).
    A very informative review of The Complete Stories, referring to the opera libretti Malamud's short stories are based on.
26. Articles written for AUFBAU by Leonard J. Lehrman #100: "New Film of The Assistant Premieres at Center for Jewish History" [original title: "The Legacy of Bernard Malamud Continues to Grow" by Leonard Lehrman (AUFBAU 66:23 November 16, 2000 p.14).
    A very informative review of the film version of The Assistant. It introduces Ms. Elisabetta Magnani's masters thesis on Malamud's Italianisms as well as the address of the appartment in Rome where the Malamuds stayed during their first visit to the country.
27. "A black, Jewish Angel": A column by MICHAEL ELKIN about the musicalization of "Angel Levine."
28. "The Complete Stories Bernard Malamud": A book review of The Complete Stories from shopping.altavista.com.
29. Paul Berman, "Folk Jews: The mystical world of Bernard Malamud": A book review of The Complete Stories from slate.msn.com.
30. Kurt Jensen, "Narrow Virtue": A book review of The Complete Stories from the Boston Book Review.
31. Richard Wakefield, "Revisiting Bernard Malamud's shorter work": A book review of The Complete Stories from Seattle Times.
32. Talking Horse: Bernard Malamud on Life and Work: Book reviews of the book from amazon.com.
33. Talking Horse: Bernard Malamud on Life and Work: A brief book review of the book edited by ALAN CHEUSE.
34. The Natural: A film review of The Natural by Matthew Kilburn.



35. Evelyn Avery, Bernard Malamud (1914-1986): An introduction of Bernard Malamud written by Dr. Evelyn Avery for syllabus guide, Georgetown University.
    Mentions about the Bernard Malamud Society in the U.S. at the end.



36. Lesson 12: Saul Bellow, Bernard Malamud, Philip Roth: A lesson page prepared by Prof. Jill Gidmark, University of Minnesota, for her "Literatures of the United States" class. "Study Notes" includes her introduction of "The Magic Barrel" and the questions on the story.
37. Novels: Lesson Plans, Resources and Reading Lists for Secondary School Educators: It has a link to "Format for Lesson Plans" for The Assistant and even to my site!
38. The Assistant: A commentary on the novel in "The world literature clicktionary" or "Babel Guide to World Literature" in the U.K.
39. Bernard Malamud (1914-1986): A brief introduction of the author by Kathryn VanSpanckeren on her "An Outline of American Literature" site in the Netherlands.
40. The Fixer by Bernard Malamud: A site concentrating on the understanding of The Fixer "created by Advanced Placement Lit/Comp senior students at Springfield High School (IL) as a final research project in 1997 and 1998" as a part of their Themes in Modern Literature project. A very good job! The site has the following pages:
    • The Fixer: An Overview
    • The Fixer: Annotated Bibliography
    • The Fantasy World in The Fixer
    • The Effect of the Schlemiel in The Fixer
    • Irony in The Fixer
    • The Fixer: Related Resources on the Web
41. Yoni Skupsky, "Bernard Malamud's Anti-hero as Powerful Protagonist": An article written by a student from Brighton High School. Refers to The Assistant, The Tenants, The Fixer, and The Natural.
42. Pamela Moore and Jack Coulehan, "God's Grace": A summary and commentary of the novel. Supposedly a project of the medical school of New York University.
43. Martin Kohn, "Idiots First": A summary and commentary of the story. Supposedly a project of the medical school of New York University.
44. Pamela Moore, "The Silver Crown": A summary and commentary of the story. Supposedly a project of the medical school of New York University.
45. "The Natural": A summary of The Natural written for the summer reading for, I presume, Mount Mercy Academy students.
46. Henk Stubbe, "The Fixer-Bernard Malamud": A summary of The Fixer written by a high school student, I presume, from the Netherlands.
47. Denver Read and Feed's Favorite Books: The Fixer, Bernard Malamud, 1966: A brief introduction of the novel.



48. PANORAMA: The Assistant [directed by] Daniel Petrie, Canada: An introduction of the 1997 film production of The Assistant from "The 21st Montreal World Film Festival, 22 August-2 September 1997" homepage. Contains a brief film synopsis and the director Daniel Petrie's comment.
49. Two Stories on Stage: Bernard Malamud's The Jewbird and Grace Paley's Goodbye and Good Luck: An announcement from A Traveling Jewish Theatre's homepage. Contains a portrait of Malamud that looks very familiar to me!
50. Gigantic Pictures: "The First Seven Years": The site for their production of the story. A few pictures of Bernard Malamud, his brief biography, and the production information including the synopsis of their video version of the story.
51. "Short Stories of Bernard Malamud": Storytapes.com entry of Bernard Malamud. You can hear a sample reading of the first section of "The Last Mohican" by Real Player.
52. "The Natural by Bernard Malamud, read by Christopher Hurt": Blackstoneaudio.com entry of The Natural. Contains a brief excerpt of Leslie Fiedler's review of the novel.



53. "Fantastic Fiction" entry of Bernard Malamud: A picture of Bernard Malamud and a skimpy list of titles of his books and stories.
54. The Grave of Bernard Malamud: "Find a Grave" page of Bernard Malamud with the grave stone picture and the cemetery location map.



55. JANNA MALAMUD SMITH, WHEN THE CAMERA VIOLATES: An excerpt of Malamud's daughter Janna's book in "Columbia Journalism Reviews." Sorry, Janna, the Web may sometimes violate your privacy.

Internal Links:

• 1996 Shimada, Keiichi. "Bernard Malamud's Two 'First' Stories: 'Benefit Performance' and 'The First Seven Years'". Dokkyo University Studies in English, no. 45, pp. 1-18.
• An image of the creator of this site: Benefit Performance