A New Life by Bernard Malamud
Another Malamud Gem
An overlooked masterpiece. It may still be undervalued as Malamuds
funniest and most embracing novel. --Jonathan Lethem
In A New Life, Bernard Malamud--generally thought of as a distinctly New
York writer--took on the American myth of the West as a place of personal
reinvention.
When Sy Levin, a high school teacher beset by alcohol and bad decisions,
leaves the city for the Pacific Northwest to start over, its no surprise that he
conjures a vision of the extraordinary new life awaiting him there: He
imagined the pioneers in covered wagons entering this valley for the first
time. Although he had lived little in nature Levin had always loved it, and

the sense of having done the right thing in leaving New York was renewed
in him. Soon after his arrival at Cascadia College, however, Levin realizes
he has been taken in by a mirage. The failures pile up anew, and Levin,
fired from his post, finds himself back where he started and little the wiser
for it.
A New Life--as Jonathan Lethems introduction makes clear--is Malamud at
his best: with his belief in luck and new beginnings Sy Levin embodies the
thwarted yearning for transcendence that is at the heart of all Malamuds
work.
Personal Review: A New Life by Bernard Malamud
'A New Life' by Bernard Malamud is the fifth novel I've read by him and
with each book I am further convinced of his genious. He was a master at
the novel (not just short story). Though his works are funny they are also
deeply humane and, from a literary standpoint, subtle. I can't think of
anything more difficult in writing than subtlety. Time and again, while
reading this book I'd have to pause and reread a line or paragraph
because of his subtle and miraculous use of language. The main
character, Levin, is somewhat of a comic hero, but there is deep truth in
him. His life is regret and he wonders when he will actually begin living.
Already thirty, an outcast from the east in a northwestern college town,
Levin's new chapter of life is on vivid, often comic and sad display for the
reader. Another masterpiece!
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