SOURCE: Pifer, Ellen. “Malamud's Unnatural The Natural.” Studies in American Jewish Fiction 7, no. 2 (fall 1988): 138-52.

In the following essay, Pifer discusses Malamud's use of artificial, highly stylized narrative devices in The Natural.

In The Natural, a host of literary devices draws attention to the “unnatural” landscape, the deliberate design, of Malamud's first novel. Most discussions of the novel have focused not on these devices, however, but on the ancient lore of Arthurian romance, particularly the myths of the Grail Knight and the Fisher King. As critics have pointed out, the novel's ample allusions to the grail legend underline its mythic theme: a hero's quest, ordeal, and ultimate redemption.¹ While the significance of this traditional material can hardly be overlooked, preoccupation with the novel's mythic elements has led critics to overlook some of the most telling, and original, effects of its narrative structure. A network of seemingly magical events...