It s closer to the quality of short fiction. There s less of the kind of personality that would be associated with a Malamud character. A Malamud character is someone who fears his fate, is caught up in it, yet manages to outrun it. He s the subject and object of laughter and pity. That was Papa s bag.
Art lives on surprise.
A writer has to surprise himself to be worth reading. For Malamud there is always the temptation to rewrite once again. But I know it s finished when I can no longer stand working on it. Valery said that a work of art is never completed it s abandoned. He d leave his manuscript where a friend could find it and cart it off to the publisher.