Background
Malamud wrote slowly and carefully; he was not especially prolific. He is the author of eight novels and 65 short stories, and his 1997 Collected Stories is 629 pages long. Maxim Lieber served as his literary agent in 1942 and 1945.
Malamud wrote slowly and carefully; he was not especially prolific. He is the author of eight novels and 65 short stories, and his 1997 Collected Stories is 629 pages long. Maxim Lieber served as his literary agent in 1942 and 1945.
Starting in 1949, Malamud taught four sections of freshman composition each semester at Oregon State University (OSU), an experience fictionalized in his 1961 novel A New Life.
Because he lacked the Ph.D., he was not allowed to teach literature courses, and for a number of years his rank was that of instructor. In those days, OSU, a land grant university, placed little emphasis on the teaching of humanities or the writing of fiction. While at OSU, he devoted 3 days out of every week to his writing, and gradually emerged as a major American author. In 1961, he
left OSU to teach creative writing at Bennington College, a position he held until retirement. In 1967, he was made a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Novels
The Natural (1952), The Assistant (1957), A New Life (1961), The Fixer (1966), The Tenants (1971), Dubin's Lives (1971), God's Grace (1982)
Story collections
The Magic Barrel (1958), Idiots First (1963), Pictures of Fidelman (1969), Rembrandt's Hat (1974), The Stories of Bernard Malamud (1983), The People and Uncollected Stories(1989), The Complete Stories (1997)
Short stories
"The Mourners" (1955), "The Jewbird" (1963)
In 1942, Malamud met Ann De Chiara (November 1, 1917 - March 20, 2007), an Italian-American Roman Catholic, and a 1939 Cornell University graduate. They married on November 6, 1945, despite the opposition of their respective parents. Ann typed his manuscripts and reviewed his
writing.
Janna Malamud Smith is the author of a memoir about her father.
