Bernard Malamud

Japanese: マラマッド - まらまっど（英語表記）Bernard Malamud

American novelist. Born in Brooklyn, New York to Russian Jewish immigrant parents. After working hard to graduate from Columbia University, he became a high school teacher before taking up university teaching. His first novel, The Baseball Genius (1952), is a fantastic fable about Roy, a talented baseball player who makes it to the major leagues, but is tossed about by the charms of good and bad women and experiences the ups and downs of life. In The Assistant (1957), he takes a completely different approach, using naturalistic techniques to depict the relationship between a small grocery store owner during the depression and his orphaned clerk. In his third work, Another Life (1961), Levin, who has cleared his past as a drunkard and is looking for a new life by taking a teaching position at a local university, is unable to assimilate into the lukewarm environment around him, and seduces the head professor's wife, returning to the East. It is a story of rebellion and error. His major work, The Fixer (1966), is a historical novel set in pre-revolutionary Russia. It tells the story of a Jewish general repairman named Yakov who is falsely accused of the brutal murder of a young boy, imprisoned and abused, but who experiences severe contemplation and visions, and awakens to a strong Jewish consciousness. It won the National Book Award. His fifth work, The Lodger (1971), deals with the complicated friendship between a middle-aged Jewish writer and a young black man who wants to be a writer, and the heated debates between the two over artistic ideals and the exchange of revenge are depicted in a fantastical style. Winter of Mr. Dubin (1979) is a story of the anguish and pursuit of an elderly biographer who feels that his family is in danger of falling apart due to his incompatibility with the lifestyle beliefs of his wife and children, and seeks the joy of rejuvenation through sexual experiences with his young mistress. "The Grace of God" (1982) is a dark, prophetic fable about a lone surviving paleontologist who lives with apes on a tropical island after a nuclear war and tries to teach them language, religion, and sexuality. Malamud is good at using fables and fantasy, and this skill is fully demonstrated in many of his short stories.

[Kunitaka Chuji]

Short story

Malamud has written four collections of short stories: The Magic Barrel (1958, National Book Award winner), The Idiot Ahead (1963), The Fidelman Painting (1969), and Rembrandt's Hat (1973), all of which are excellent works worthy of a master of the short story. Most of the characters are ordinary, poor commoners who carry the tragic history of Jewish immigrants, or detached academics who can only lead clumsy secular lives. These characters lead lives full of misfortune and hardship, repeating tragicomic acts of trial and error in the dingy backstreets of big cities or in unfamiliar foreign lands.

For example, in "The Magic Barrel," Leo, a student aspiring to become a doctor of Jewish law, is manipulated by a cunning marriage broker, and after much deliberation and agonizing, he is drawn into an unexpected situation. In "The Idiot First," an elderly man near death struggles to find the money for the train fare to leave his idiotic son with relatives in the West, but is late for the scheduled time and his son is refused boarding, but with a final struggle he achieves his wish.

In the "Fidelman" stories, set in Italy, the protagonist, whose curiosity and sense of adventure are aroused in a foreign land, is eventually outwitted by another person after a complicated relationship, and suffers a bitter sense of loss.

Other subjects are extremely varied, including Rembrandt's favorite hats, a neurotic sculptor who is extremely concerned about other people's criticism, an imaginary Jew bird who harbors Jewish feelings and comes to help humans but is ultimately hated and killed, and a circus horse that has the appearance of a horse but can be manipulated to speak better than humans.

Malamud is deeply interested in the breakdown of human moral life and the weaknesses and distortions that reside in the human heart, and he likes to depict the negative aspects of his protagonists, such as misfortune, poverty, lies, passion, and disappointment, who endure such situations with fortitude, but the impression that runs through his works is one of positivity that suggests the possibilities of life. This is due in large part to the author's humanism, his warm observation of human beings, his positive view of life that is convinced of salvation amid suffering and sacrifice, and his folktale-like narrative technique that adds subtle effects of humor and fantasy.

[Kunitaka Chuji]

"The Fixer" translated by Fukuo Hashimoto (1969, Hayakawa Publishing)" ▽ "The Winter of Mr. Dubin" translated by Ken Onodera (1980, Hakusuisha) ▽ "Malamud Short Stories" translated by Shozo Kashima (Shincho Bunko)

[References] | Assistant

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

アメリカの小説家。ロシア系ユダヤ移民を両親として、ニューヨーク市ブルックリンに生まれる。苦学をしてコロンビア大学を卒業、高校教師を経て大学で教鞭(きょうべん)をとる。処女長編『天才球児』（1952）は、野球の才能に恵まれたロイが大リーグ選手に進出し、悪女・善女の魅惑に翻弄(ほんろう)され人生の浮沈を経験する幻想的寓話(ぐうわ)。『アシスタント』（1957）は、一転して自然主義的手法で、不況期の零細食品店主と孤児あがりの店員とのかかわりあいを描く。第三作『もう一つの生活』（1961）は、飲んだくれの過去を清算し、地方大学の教職に新生活への転換を求めるレビンが、周囲の微温的状況に同化できず、主任教授の妻を奪いふたたび東部に戻る、反抗と過誤の物語。大作『フィクサー』（1966）は、革命前のロシアが舞台の歴史小説で、よろず修理屋のユダヤ人ヤコフが少年惨殺事件の濡(ぬ)れ衣(ぎぬ)を着せられ、投獄、虐待の憂き目にあうが、厳しい思索や幻視の体験を重ね、強固なユダヤ意識に目覚める過程を描き、全米図書賞を受賞。第五作『下宿人』（1971）は、中年のユダヤ系作家と作家志望の若い黒人男の複雑な友情関係を扱い、芸術理念をめぐる2人の激論や、報復行為のやりとりが幻想的スタイルで表現される。『ドゥービン氏の冬』（1979）は、初老の伝記作家が妻子の生活信条との違和感に家庭崩壊の危機を感じ、若い愛人との性体験を通じて回春の歓(よろこ)びを求める苦悩と追求の物語。また『神の恵み』（1982）は、核戦争ののち、1人生き残った古生物学者が、熱帯の孤島で類人猿たちと共棲(きょうせい)し、言語、宗教、性愛の教育を試みる、暗い予言に満ちた寓話の書。寓話や幻想の手法はマラマッドの得意で、その力量は多数の短編にも十分に発揮されている。

［邦高忠二］

短編

マラマッドには、『魔法の樽(たる)』（1958。全米図書賞受賞）、『白痴を先に』（1963）、『フィデルマンの絵』（1969）、『レンブラントの帽子』（1973）の4冊の短編集があり、いずれも短編の名手にふさわしい佳編が多い。登場人物も、ほとんどがユダヤ移民の悲惨な歴史を背負う平凡で貧しい庶民、あるいは不器用な世俗生活しか送れない、世間離れした学究の徒などで、それらの人物は、大都会のくすんだ裏町や、勝手の知れない異国の地で試行錯誤の悲喜劇的行為を繰り返し、不運や苦渋に満ちた生活を送っている。

　たとえば『魔法の樽』で、ユダヤ教の律法博士を目ざす学徒のレオは、狡猾(こうかつ)な結婚仲介業者の手玉にのせられ、熟考、煩悶(はんもん)のあげく、結局は意外な状況に引き込まれていく。『白痴を先に』では、死期間近な老人が、白痴の息子を西部の親戚(しんせき)に預けるため鉄道運賃の調達に苦労した果て、契約時刻に遅れ、息子の乗車を拒否されるが、最後のあがきによって望みを遂げる。

　イタリアを背景にする「フィデルマンもの」では、異郷の土地で好奇心や冒険心をそそられる主人公が、他人との複雑な交際ののち、ついに他人に出し抜かれて苦い喪失感を味わう。

　そのほか、レンブラント好みの帽子や他人の批評を極端に気にする神経症の彫刻家、ユダヤ的心情を抱いて人間の手助けに訪れるが、結局、嫌われて殺される想像上のユダヤ鳥、姿は馬の形でもことばは人間以上に操れるサーカス団の曲芸馬など、素材はきわめて変化に富む。

　マラマッドは人間の倫理生活の破局、人間の心に巣くう弱み、ひずみに強い関心を抱き、そうした状況にも、したたかに耐えて生きる主人公たちの悲運、貧困、虚偽、激情、失意などの否定的諸相を好んで描くが、諸作品に通じる印象としては、生の可能性を示唆する積極性が読み取れる。それというのも、作者の抱懐するヒューマニズム、人間への温かい観察眼、苦難や犠牲のなかで救済を確信する肯定的人生観、ユーモアやファンタジーの微妙な効果を添える民話的語り口の技法などが大きく寄与しているといえよう。

［邦高忠二］

『橋本福夫訳『修理屋（フィクサー）』（1969・早川書房）』▽『小野寺健訳『ドゥービン氏の冬』（1980・白水社）』▽『加島祥造訳『マラマッド短編集』（新潮文庫）』

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