Talking Horse

by Bernard Malamud

"I think it hurts a writer," said fiction writer Bernard Malamud, "to have his secrets known--his method of working disclosed while he is still active." Malamud was, according to his colleagues Alan Cheuse and Nicholas Delbanco (the editors of Talking Horse), "resolutely private about the construction of his finished work." Maybe so. But over a lifetime, he wrote an impressive amount of material about his own work, and about fiction in general. Talking Horse collects much of that material--speeches, book introductions, interviews, lesson plans, essays, and more. Included here are notes on The Natural, a defense of fantasy, musings on the great task of embarking on a novel, and a discussion about Jewishness in American fiction. Though most fiction writers see the short story as a warm-up for writing longer fiction, Malamud loved the form. "Within a dozen or few more pages," he said, "whole lives are implied and even understood." He displays here, by turns, endearing humility ("it took years for my work to impress me"), a piercing intellect, disdain for "gossips" who want to know the person behind the fiction, and a strong belief not only that the work must speak for itself, but that there is likely "more to a book or short story than the writer himself knows." A very satisfying collection from a man who liked to claim that "as a writer I learned from Charlie Chaplin." --Jane Steinberg

Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Bernard Malamud was an American novelist and short story writer. Along with Saul Bellow, Joseph Heller, Norman Mailer and Philip Roth, he was one of the best known American Jewish authors of the 20th century. His baseball novel, The Natural, was adapted into a 1984 film starring Robert Redford. His 1966 novel The Fixer (also filmed), about antisemitism in the Russian Empire, won both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize.

Reviews

[Maurizio Manco · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Niente è obbligatorio per lo scrittore, a parte scrivere bene." (p. 82)

[Amanda Rosso · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2.

Non conosco molto Malamud, ma amo i libri di scrittori e scrittrici che parlano di scrittura.

Questo Malamud che parla di scrittura mi fa intravedere una passione bruciante e una conoscenza sterminata di letteratura e i suoi e le sue vassalli, ma lo fa in modo troppo cattedrattico, un po' banalotto e ignorando completamente le scrittrici americane del suo tempo.

Una infarinatura di pensieri sparsi che si leggono come aforismi, ma non entrano nel merito di una carriera e una vocazione chiaramente potentissime nello scrittore Malamud.

Sempre piacevole e acuto, ma mi aspettavo di più.

[dv · Rating 3 out of 5]

Opinioni sulla scrittura di Malamud, fra teoria, pratica e commenti su altri scrittori. Organizzato per temi, il libro è un po' pedante nelle introduzioni che anticipano ogni blocco di testo di Malamud (peraltro non chiarendone la fonte), ma poi è godibile il contenuto vero e proprio.

"Raccontare storie è un modo per trovare, passo dopo passo, il significato della vita. È una possibilità per immergere la punta delle dita nel mare dell’esperienza e portare a galla la sostanza, portare su la scrittura, nascosta, per poter raccontare quello che hai fatto e quello che ti senti di dover dire".

[Mauro De Zordo]

Un lungo, prezioso elenco di consigli, valutazioni, commenti e giudizi, nei quali chiunque voglia esprimere se stesso nella scrittura potrà trovare un seme che, nutrito e curato, potrà aprirgli nuove consapevolezze nello stile da adottare e nella struttura della storia che intende creare.

[Izabella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh.My.Goodness.

The short stories are beautiful.
Specially the title story. I was just paused by it for days. It came with me everywhere, and I did not want to return from that universe.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Efficace

[Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly, this is probably the best book I've ever read about being an author and the writer's craft. Repeatedly, in every single chapter, I was nodding my head in confirmation about the points he was making. The methodical and spontaneous approach to novel writing was I thought very novel....masterful is more like it. If you want to know what his approach is, well I can't do your homework for you--you'll have to read the book yourself. But believe me, you'll be savoring all the wisdom he imparts!