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The Tenants

Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Tenants follows Harry Lesser, the last tenant in a condemned New York building, as he strives to finish a novel he began a decade earlier. His solitary existence is disrupted when he discovers Willie Spearmint, a contentious black writer, also living and typing in another flat. Their tense and often hostile interactions explore themes of creativity, prejudice, and destruction.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This novel will appeal to readers interested in complex character studies and social tensions, especially those drawn to literary fiction exploring urban life and racial dynamics.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

The last remaining tenant in a condemned New York tenement, Harry Lesser struggles against rising panic and escalating odds to complete the novel he started ten years earlier, while his landlord Levenspiel cajoles through closed doors with hard-luck tales and substantial cash sums.

First published in 1971, The Tenants is a ruthlessly funny dissection of a relationship of profound unease and mutual destruction.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

First published in 1971, The Tenants is a ruthlessly funny dissection of a relationship of profound unease and mutual destruction.

The last remaining tenant in a condemned New York tenement, Harry Lesser struggles against rising panic and escalating odds to complete the novel he started ten years earlier. Then he stumbles on a black man, sitting typing in one of the deserted flats: Willie Spearmint, soul writer. Touchy, hostile and anti-semitic, demanding then denouncing Lesser's critical help with his floridly violent tales of oppression, Spearmint is exactly what Lesser doesn't need - or does he?

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780099289876

Publisher: Vintage Publishing

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 05 August 1999

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Vintage Classics

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 11.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 117g

Pages: 160

About the Author

Bernard Malamud, one of America's most important novelists and short-story writers, was born in Brooklyn in 1914. He took his B.A. degree at the City College of New York and his M.A. at Colombia University. From 1940 to 1949 he taught in various New York schools, and then joined the staff of Oregon State University, where he stayed until 1961. Thereafter, he taught at Bennington State College, Vermont. His remarkable, and uncharacteristic first novel, The Natural, appeared in 1952. Malamud received international acclaim with the publication of The Assistant (1957, winner of the Rosenthal Award and the Daroff Memorial Award). His other works include The Magic Barrel (1958, winner of the National Book Award), Idiots First (1963, short stories), The Fixer (1966, winner of a second National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize), Pictures of Fidelman (1969), The Tenants (1971), Rembrandt's Hat (1973, short stories), Dubin's Lives (1979) and God's Grace (1982). Bernard Malamud was made a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters, USA, in 1964, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1967, and won a major Italian award, the Premio Mondello, in 1985. Benard Malamud died in 1986.

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