'Becoming a spectator of life'

 “Awriter is a spectator, looking at everything with a highly critical eye.”– Bernard Malamud

Born on this date in 1914, Malamud was an Americannovelist and short story writer best known for his baseball novel, The Natural, although it was his book TheFixer about anti-Semitism in TsaristRussia that won him both a National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize.      The Natural recountsthe experiences of Roy Hobbs, an individual with great "natural"baseball talent, and spans decades of Hobb's successes and sufferings.   A movie made from his books stars Robert Redford and has thedistinction of being the first film produced by TriStar Pictures.  It earned 4Academy Awards.A young man during the Depression,Malamud           scraped together the money to study writing at City College of New Yorkand went on to earn a Master’s degree at Columbia University before teachingfor many years at Oregon State.  Malamud was known for writing slowly and carefully, ultimately authoring 8 novels and 4 short story collections beforehis death in 1986.  
The son of Russian immigrants, Malamud was also known for his honest depiction ofthe immigrant experience, ranging from despair and difficulty to the hope of dreams fulfilled.  “When you write about life, reflectabout life," he said, "you see in others who you yourself are.”