"The Natural" - RTB Book Club Ep. 1 (3/31/20)

Originally recorded in 2018, Tucker and Coach are joined by author Clayton Trutor to discuss Bernard Malamud's seminal baseball work, "The Natural" (2:45). Written in 1949, Malamud had no prior knowledge of baseball history. He crafts the character of Roy Hobbs to be the "Great American Monomyth" (5:05). Filled with lush poetic imagery (Wonderboy and the Wasteland), Malamud weaves the Vegetative myth, Arthurian Legend and the mode of Joseph Campbell's "Hero with a Thousand Faces", to pen the standard for baseball fiction (15:00). From the book came the beloved 1984 film starring Robert Redford, featuring an A-List cast, Oscar-winning cinematography, and Randy Newman's iconic score. However, the ending is pure Hollywood and a far cry from the book (50:00).