The Natural
Novel by Bernard Malamud / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Natural is a 1952 novel about baseball by Bernard Malamud, and is his debut novel. The story follows Roy Hobbs, a baseball prodigy whose career is sidetracked after being shot by a woman whose motivation remains mysterious. The story mostly concerns his attempts to return to baseball later in life, when he plays for the fictional New York Knights with his self-made bat "Wonderboy".
This article is written like a personal reflection, personal essay, or argumentative essay that states a Wikipedia editor's personal feelings or presents an original argument about a topic. (September 2023) |
Author | Bernard Malamud |
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Cover artist | Simon Goltche |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Publisher | Harcourt Brace and Company |
Publication date | August 21, 1952[1] |
Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
OCLC | 11868356 |
Followed by | The Assistant (1957) |
Based upon the bizarre shooting incident and subsequent comeback of Philadelphia Phillies player Eddie Waitkus,[2] the story of Roy Hobbs takes some poetic license and embellishes what was truly a strange, but memorable, account of a career lost too soon. Apart from the fact that both Waitkus and fictional Hobbs were shot by women, there are few if any other similarities. It has been alternately suggested by historian Thomas Wolf that the shooting incident might have been inspired by Chicago Cubs shortstop Billy Jurges,[3][4] who was shot by a showgirl with whom he was romantically linked, but there has been no evidence to support this claim.
A film adaptation, The Natural, starring Robert Redford as Roy Hobbs, was released in 1984.