Malcolm: A Comic Novel Format: Paperback

The twenty-first-century revival of James Purdy continues with his classic novel of innocence and corruption.

Introduced simply as “the boy on the bench,” the titular character of Malcolm is a Candide-like figure who is picked up by the “most famous astrologer of his period” and introduced to a series of increasingly absurd characters and bizarre situations in “the most prodigiously funny book to streak across these heavy-hanging times” (Dorothy Parker).

James Purdy, born in 1914, is undergoing a major literary renaissance. The author of Malcolm and now The Complete Short Stories of James Purdy, he lived in New York until his death in 2009.