Publisher's Synopsis
The Short Stories of Bernard Malamud is a study of how Malamud's anthology attempts to re-capture the poetic subject's identity, behind whose mask the author lies. By collecting twenty-five of his short stories in a personal anthology, Malamud has helped his readers understand the complex devices by which American society has shaped Jewish-American identity in the generations between the 1950s and the 1980s, affecting concepts of family, community, and religion. Dr. Sio-Castineira's study demonstrates how Malamud seeks to capture an instance of identity by means of denouncing the isolation caused both by extreme Jewish orthodoxy and brutal assimilation, and proclaiming his faith in the potential contained in the individual mind as the only way to recuperate a sense of self.
