Historical Fiction · DarkA Jewish handyman is accused of murder in Tsarist Russia
The Fixer
A Jewish handyman in Tsarist Russia is jailed for a murder he did not commit
The Fixer is set in Tsarist Russia in 1913 and fictionalizes the Beilis case, in which a Jewish man, Menahem Mendel Beilis, was accused of murder and imprisoned, and which caused an international uproar. Malamud's central figure is Yakov Bok, a Jewish handyman who is arrested.
More about this book
Who
Yakov Bok, a Jewish handyman. The real-life case behind the story concerned Menahem Mendel Beilis.
World
Tsarist Russia, 1913.
What makes it different
It is a fictionalized account of a real trial that caused an international uproar. It won both the 1967 National Book Award for Fiction and the 1967 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and was made into a 1968 film with Alan Bates, who was nominated for an Oscar.
Feel
Grim and tense, an account of one man held for a long time.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Behind the book
Beilis's descendants have long argued that Malamud plagiarized from Beilis's 1926 memoir. A 2011 edition claims to identify 35 instances.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- The FixerWikipedia