A compassionate and wry commedia exploring the secret self, the obsessions of biography and love
With a new introduction by Thomas Mallon, Dubin's Lives (1979) is a rich, subtle book and a moving tale of love and marriage. Its protagonist, prize-winning biographer William Dubin, learns from the lives he writes about and shares, as well as his own. In his later middle age, he seeks his secret self, and the obsession of biography is supplanted by the obsession of love for a woman half his age who has sought understanding of her life through his books.
Praised by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt in The New York Times as Malamud's "best novel since The Assistant—possibly, it is the best he has written of all," Dubin's Lives is a must-read for fans of literary fiction, novels about writers, and Jewish literature. This compelling work from one of America's finest authors offers a thoughtful exploration of the complexities of marriage and adultery.