Tap cover to enlarge

The Natural

Published
Jan 1973
Main Genre
General Fiction General Fiction
Rating

About This Book

The classical novel (and basis for the acclaimed film starring Robert Redford) now in a new edition

Introduction by Kevin Baker

The Natural, Bernard Malamud's first novel, published in 1952, is also the first—and some would say still the best—novel ever written about baseball.

In it Malamud, usually appreciated for his unerring portrayals of postwar Jewish life, took on very different material—the story of a superbly gifted "natural" at play in the fields of the old daylight baseball era—and invested it with the hardscrabble poetry, at once grand and altogether believable, that runs through all his best work. Four decades later, Alfred Kazin's comment still holds true: "Malamud has done something which—now that he has done it!—looks as if we have been waiting for it all our lives. He has really raised the whole passion and craziness and fanaticism of baseball as a popular spectacle to its ordained place in mythology."

Genres & Themes

Subgenres

Buy This Book

Formats & Editions

Browse the different covers, formats, and publication history for this title.

Paperback

Paperback edition cover
Paperback
Sep 1978 Pocket ISBN13 9780671826307 ISBN10 0671826301
Buy
Paperback edition cover
Mass Market Paperback
Jul 1980 Avon ISBN13 9780380682393 ISBN10 0380682397
Buy
Paperback edition cover
Paperback
Dec 1993 Avon ISBN13 9780380720842 ISBN10 0380720841
Buy
Paperback edition cover
Mass Market Paperback
Aug 1995 Avon ISBN13 9780380506095 ISBN10 0380506092
Buy
Paperback edition cover
Trade Paperback
Jan 2000 HarperPerennial ISBN13 9780060958299 ISBN10 0060958294
Buy
Paperback edition cover
Trade Paperback
Jun 2002 Vintage (UK) ISBN13 9780099437024 ISBN10 0099437023
Buy
Paperback edition cover
Trade Paperback
Jul 2003 Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN13 9780374502003 ISBN10 0374502005
Buy

Hardcover

Hardcover edition cover
Hardcover
First Edition Jan 1973 Pocket ISBN13 9780671782733 ISBN10 0671782738
Buy
Hardcover edition cover
Hardcover
Dec 1961 Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN13 9780374219604 ISBN10 0374219605
Buy
Hardcover edition cover
Hardcover
Jan 1980 Time Life Medical ISBN13 9780809435944 ISBN10 0809435942
Buy
Hardcover edition cover
Hardcover
Jan 1980 Time Life Medical ISBN13 9780809435937 ISBN10 0809435934
Buy
Hardcover edition cover
Hardcover
Jan 1980 Turtleback Books ISBN13 9780606216074 ISBN10 0606216073
Buy
Hardcover edition cover
Hardcover
Aug 1995 Turtleback Books ISBN13 9780606016889 ISBN10 0606016880
Buy
Hardcover edition cover
Hardcover
Jul 2003 Turtleback Books ISBN13 9780613694315 ISBN10 0613694317
Buy
Hardcover edition cover
Hardcover
Aug 2003 Perfection Learning ISBN13 9780812473100 ISBN10 0812473108
Buy

eBook

eBook edition cover
eBook
Jul 2003 Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN13 9781466805033 ISBN10 146680503X
Buy
eBook edition cover
eBook
Jul 2003 Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN10 B006CQ8IGE
Buy
eBook edition cover
eBook
Aug 2014 SparkNotes ISBN10 B0759ZKJ8B
Buy
eBook edition cover
eBook
Aug 2017 Vintage ISBN13 9781446419120 ISBN10 1446419126
Buy

Audio

Audio edition cover
Audio CD
Brilliance Audio ISBN13 9781713607830 ISBN10 1713607832
Buy
Audio edition cover
Audio Cassette
May 1986 DH Audio ISBN13 9780886461560 ISBN10 0886461561
Buy
Audio edition cover
Audio Cassette
Jun 1993 Blackstone Audiobooks ISBN13 9780786104543 ISBN10 0786104546
Buy
Audio edition cover
Audible
Dec 1999 dh audio ISBN10 B01CPYD7JE
Buy
Audio edition cover
Audible
Dec 1999 Blackstone Audio, Inc. ISBN10 B01CPSQEG8
Buy
Audio edition cover
Audio CD
Jun 2007 Blackstone Audiobooks ISBN13 9780786159192 ISBN10 0786159197
Buy
Audio edition cover
MP3 CD
Jul 2007 Blackstone Audiobooks ISBN13 9780786173013 ISBN10 0786173017
Buy
Audio edition cover
Audible
Jul 2007 Blackstone Audio, Inc. ISBN10 B000U88YOG
Buy
Audio edition cover
Audio CD
Jun 2012 Blackstone Audiobooks ISBN13 9781470820022 ISBN10 1470820021
Buy
Audio edition cover
MP3 CD
Oct 2016 Brilliance Audio ISBN13 9781501215506 ISBN10 1501215507
Buy
Audio edition cover
Audible
Jul 2019 Audible Studios ISBN10 B07TK5NKZL
Buy

Large Print

Large Print edition cover
Hardcover
Oct 1984 G.K. Hall & Company ISBN13 9780816137572 ISBN10 0816137579
Buy