“A BRILLIANT AND MYTHIC BASEBALL FANTASY”: SCARCE FIRST EDITION OF MALAMUD’S FIRST NOVEL, THE NATURAL
MALAMUD, Bernard. The Natural. New York: Harcourt, Brace, (1952). Octavo, original gray paper boards, original dust jacket.
Scarce first edition of Malamud’s first novel, in original dust jacket.
“A brilliant and mythic baseball fantasy” (American Fiction, 193), The Natural simultaneously “parodies both the pretensions of those who see baseball as a metaphor for heroism and the idea of the existence of the ‘great American novel’” (Stringer, 427). Adapted to the screen in 1984 starring Robert Redford, Glenn Close and Robert Duvall. Issued in red, gray (this copy) or blue boards, no priority established. McCue, 66. See: Smith 1293; Grobani 12-90A. Evidence of bookseller’s sticker removal to rear flap of jacket.
Cloth with most minor wear, dust jacket lightly rubbed and soiled. Near-fine condition.