Steven Millhauser
Steven Millhauser | |
---|---|
Born | New York City, U.S. | August 3, 1943
Occupation | Novelist, short story writer |
Education | Columbia University (BA) Brown University |
Notable works | Martin Dressler |
Notable awards | Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (1997) The Story Prize (2012) |
Steven Millhauser (born August 3, 1943) is an American
Life and career
Millhauser was born in
Until the Pulitzer Prize, Millhauser was best known for his 1972 debut novel, Edwin Mullhouse. This novel, about a precocious writer whose career ends abruptly with his death at age eleven, features the fictional Jeffrey Cartwright playing
Possibly the most well-known of his short stories is "Eisenheim the Illusionist" (published in "The Barnum Museum"), based on a pseudo-mythical tale of a magician who stunned audiences in Vienna in the latter part of the 19th century. It was made into the film The Illusionist (2006).[2]
Millhauser's stories often treat fantasy themes in a manner reminiscent of Poe or Borges, with a distinctively American voice. As critic Russell Potter has noted, "In (Millhauser's stories), mechanical cowboys at penny arcades come to life; curious amusement parks, museums, or catacombs beckon with secret passageways and walking automata; dreamers dream and children fly out their windows at night on magic carpets."[3]
Millhauser's collections of stories continued with The Barnum Museum (1990), Little Kingdoms (1993), and The Knife Thrower and Other Stories (1998). The unexpected success of Martin Dressler in 1997 brought him increased attention. Dangerous Laughter: Thirteen Stories made the New York Times Book Review list of 10 Best Books of 2008.[4]
Personal life
Millhauser lives in Saratoga Springs, New York. He taught at Skidmore College for almost 30 years before retiring in 2017.[5] He was previously married to Cathy Allis, an occupational therapist and crossword constructor.[6][7]
Awards and honors
- 2012 The Story Prize, We Others
- 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Martin Dressler
Bibliography
Novels
- Edwin Mullhouse : the life and death of an American writer, 1943-1954, by Jeffrey Cartwright : a novel. New York: Knopf. 1972.
- Portrait of a Romantic (1977) ISBN 0-671-63089-X
- From the Realm of Morpheus (1986) ISBN 0-688-06501-5
- ISBN 0-517-70319-X
Short fiction
- Collections
- In the Penny Arcade (1986) ISBN 1-56478-182-8
- ISBN 1-56478-179-8
- Little Kingdoms (1993) (Novellas) ISBN 0-375-70143-5
- ISBN 0-679-78163-3
- Enchanted Night (1999) (Novella) ISBN 0-375-70696-8
- The King in the Tree: Three Novellas (2003) ISBN 0-375-41540-8
- Dangerous Laughter: Thirteen Stories (2008) ISBN 0-307-26756-3
- ISBN 0-307-59590-0
- Voices in the Night (2015)
- Disruptions (2023)
- Stories[8]
Title | Year | First published | Reprinted/collected | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Miracle Polish | 2011 | "Miracle Polish". The New Yorker. 87 (36): 68–75. November 14, 2011. | ||
Coming soon | 2013 | Millhauser, Steven (December 16, 2013). "Coming soon". The New Yorker. Vol. 89, no. 41. pp. 74–78. |
Critical studies and reviews of Millhauser's work
- Understanding Steven Millhauser (Understanding Contemporary American Fiction), by Earl G. Ingersoll. University of South Carolina Press, 2014 ISBN 1611173086
- Steven Millhauser : la précision de l'impossible, by Marc Chénetier. Paris: Belin, 2013 ISSN 1275-0018
Notes
- ^ "Steven Millhauser". New York State Writers Institute, SUNY. Archived from the original on 2007-04-18. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
- ^ "The Illusionist: Movie Production Notes". Entertainment Magazine. 2006. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
- ^ Russell Potter (2006). "Steven Millhauser". Retrieved 2009-02-13.
- New York Times. 3 December 2008.
- ^ "Skidmore Faculty Meeting Notes" (PDF). Skidmore College. April 28, 2017. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
- ^ Smith, Dinitia (April 9, 1997). "Shy Author Likes to Live And Work In Obscurity". The New York Times. Retrieved October 10, 2018.
- ^ Keyser, Tom (February 18, 2011). "Get inside the mind of puzzler Cathy Allis". Times Union. Retrieved October 10, 2018.
- ^ Short stories unless otherwise noted.
External links
- Interview conducted by Etienne Février for Transatlantica (2011)
- Interview conducted by Jim Shepard for BOMB Magazine (2003)
- Interview conducted by Marc Chénetier for Transatlantica (2003)
- Steven Millhauser at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Steven Millhauser at IMDb
- Excerpt from Enchanted Night