Rembrandt’s Hat

short stories by Malamud

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July 20, 2026

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"Rembrandt's Hat" is a collection of short stories by American author Bernard Malamud, published in 1973. Malamud, known for his parables of Jewish immigrant life, often infused his narratives with emotional and metaphorical language, even within spare prose. His stories frequently depict grim urban settings where magical events occur, offering characters glimpses of love and self-sacrifice. "Rembrandt's Hat" is one of several notable short story collections by Malamud, alongside "The Magic Barrel" and "Idiots First." The title itself does not refer to the famous Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn, but rather is the title of one of the stories within the collection.12

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Bernard Malamud
…Pictures of Fidelman (1969), and Rembrandt’s Hat (1973). The Stories of Bernard Malamud appeared in 1983, and The People, and Uncollected Stories was published posthumously in 1989. The People, an unfinished novel, tells the story of a Jewish immigrant adopted by a 19th-century American Indian tribe. One critic spoke of…
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…Pictures of Fidelman (1969), and Rembrandt’s Hat (1973). The Stories of Bernard Malamud appeared in 1983, and The People, and Uncollected Stories was published posthumously in 1989. The People, an unfinished novel, tells the story of a Jewish immigrant adopted by a 19th-century American Indian tribe. One critic spoke of…
Read More