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=__The First Seven Years__=
 * by //Bernard Malamud//**

Born in April 26, 1914 at Brooklyn, New York, Bernard Malamud was the son of two Russian Jews that went by the names of Bertha (Fidelman) and Max Malamud. Already at the age of eight or nine, Bernard was already writing stories due to his desires of wanting to be a writer. During this same time, he was struggling with his father who kept a small gorcery store; working seven days a week to keep it in business. However, when the opportunity arised, he attented the City College of New York in 1932 at which he graduated four years later from with a Bachelor of Arts. Later, he would go to the Columbia University to get rewarded with a Masters degree in literature at the year of 1942.

Malamud decided to work as a clerk in the Bureau of the Census in Washington, D.C. and during the years passing through 1940 and 1949, he taught evening classes in high schools to most students of an immigrant origin that of which lived in Brooklyn. At the time, he was still writing whenever the spare hour would cross by. After some time passed, he published his first stories that appeared in 1943. Malamud then got in touch with the Italian girl Anne de Chiara, marrying in 1945. They had two kids; one was a boy named Paul who was born in 1947, and another was a girl named Janna who was also born in 1952. During the year of 1949, Malamud accepted a position at Oregon State College, in Corvallis, Oregon. He touch English composition, while also writing stories still and in 1950, the following stories appeared: //Harper's Bazaar, Partisan Review,// and //Commentary//. His first actual novel, //The Natural//, was to be published in the year of 1952.

Malamud lived in Rome and traveled in Europe during 1956, reaching his next novel to be published in the following year called //The Assistant,// which was based on his observations concerning his father's hardships in life at the struggling grocery. Later, //The Magic Barrel//, was included in the story called "The First Seven Years," following in 1958. It took place in a similiar situation related to his life history of the past. Shoemaker Fled was struggling in the business of his store, relating to his father's strife keeping things up with his grocery store as well. He had a worker who was also poor and struggling, nearly like a son to him. His name was Sobel, and even in the novel itself Fled speaks of him as his boy. Ironically, back in the day, Malamud was in a similiar situation as Sobel, again having a connection between the novel and his history. Though the stories plot is somewhat different near the end, most of his novels seem to have some sort of correlation towards his past life, all the way up to "The First Seven Years," and even beyond.

Further into that year, Malamud was awarded with the Rosenthal Award of the National Institure of Arts and Letters and the Daroff Memorial Award. //The Magic Barrel// recieved the National Book Award in 1959, and from 1959 to 1961 Malamud worked as a Ford Fellow of the humanities and arts program. Malamud would eventually leave Oregon State College; reaching the rank of an associate professor in 1961, also joining the faculty at Bennington College in Vermont. During the very same year, //A New Life//, his third novel, was published. In 1963, //Idiots First// followed in step as a collection of short stories. In 1966 Malamud published what most consider the so called best novel ever made, //The Fixer//. He was awarded the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for his accomplishment.

Another book was published called the //Pictures of Fidelman: An Exhibition// in 1969, along with //The Tenants// in 1971 and //Remebrandt's Hat// in 1973. During the years in 1976 he was again awarded but this time with the Jewish Heritage Award of the B'nai B'rith. In 1983, he eventually received the Gold Medal for fiction from the Academic Institute. Before he died, his final two works were //Dubin's Lives// in 1979 and //God's Grace// in 1982. //The People and Uncollected Stories// was published in 1989 posthumously. Malamud's death was March 18, 1986.

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