![]() ![]() The essence of this form, says Malamud, is “story, story, story. The writer’s duty, he argues “is to create the architecture, the form.” This element of structure, so prevalent in both his short and long fiction, runs counter to the practice of many of his contemporaries, who preferred the inherent formlessness of the so-called New Novel. ![]() Literary form as “ultimate necessity” is the basis of literature. In this respect, for Malamud the most important element of fiction is form, a belief that appropriately reinforces his thematic beliefs. We may not become better, but at least we will seek betterment.” “My premise,” notes the author, “is that we will not destroy each other. “The purpose of the writer,” contends Malamud, “is to keep civilization from destroying itself.” Therefore, his characters, no matter how bad their lot, push toward a better life, a new life. When Malamud arrived upon the literary scene, he disagreed with the period’s twin pillars of negativism and nihilism, and his work is a reaction to this prevailing trend. His work may be best understood in the context of mid-twentieth century American literature. All Bernard Malamud’s (Ap– March 18, 1986) fiction seems based on a single affirmation: Despite its disappointments, horror, pain, and suffering, life is truly worth living. ![]()
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