Voices in the Night (Vintage Contemporaries)
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.33 (702 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 080416908X |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 304 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2017-11-15 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
A unique voice Nobody writes like Steven Millhauser. I try to read a lot of short fiction, but I find there can be a sameness to much of it, so I'm grateful for writers who have a unique voice.The blurb on this book mentions "the lens of the strange he places on small-town life," but that's a simplification of what Millhauser is up to in his stories. My favorite of these, "The Place," is about a spot "at the end of town" where people go to get rid of "mind-junk." Millhauser gives expression to longings and emotions that will be familiar to most readers without ever verging into sentimentali. True Millhauser fans will surely love this collection Nathan Webster I read "Martin Dressler" a few years ago and really appreciated it, so I was quick to take the opportunity to read this new Milhauser collection.What I had apparently forgotten was I read "Martin Dressler" during graduate school, and so much of my appreciation came from talking about Milhauser's various writing choices and approaches and surrealistic skills - which are all amazing. "Dressler" is the kind of book the Pulitzer was created to be awarded to. However, "appreciation" is different than "enjoyment." Since I'm not in graduate school anymore, I'm reading for entertainm. R. M. Peterson said A couple gems, no outright duds. Sixteen stories. At least half feature the uncanny or supernatural in New England or upstate New York towns -- for example, phantoms, a mermaid, and an epidemic of suicides. In addition, there are diverse stories such as an imaginative retelling of the fairy tale Rapunzel; a mock-promotional brochure for a suicide retreat; a baseball yarn about McCluskey's mammoth, intergalactic home run; a tall tale involving Paul Bunyan and his brother John competing against one another in the Great Sleeping Contest; and a touching story/memoir involving the Biblical Samuel, the author at a
Voices in the Night offers 16 new stories with much to appreciate. He is also the last writer who’d have a problem with abandoning the laws of physics—if he can make a good story out of it.” —Mark Athitakis, Minneapolis Star Tribune “Masterful, imaginative, impressive Millhauser covers much ground in this collection. Millhauser’s stories feel as if they’d been composed in a distant era, magically delivered from the past to mystify and delight.” –Don Waters, San Francisco Chronicle“Spellbinding, masterly, sublime Voices in the Night abounds with marvels. Voices in the Night contains its share of fairy tales, too, where mystical happenings are not unexpected, but remain unnerving In this collection, Millhauser’s feats are just as outsize as Paul Bunyan’s.” —E
Here are stories of wondrously imaginative hyperrealism, stories that pose unforgettably unsettling what-ifs, or that find barely perceivable evils within the safe boundaries of our towns, homes, and even within our bodies. Here, too, are stories culled from religion and fables: Samuel, who hears the voice of God calling him in the night; a young, pre-enlightenment Buddha, who searches for his purpose in life; Rapunzel and her Prince, who struggle to fit the real world to their dream. Heightened by magic, the divine, and the uncanny,
His work has been translated into seventeen languages, and his story “Eisenheim the Illusionist” was the basis of the 2006 film The Illusionist. He teaches at Skidmore College and lives in Saratoga Springs, New York. STEVEN MILLHAUSER is the author of numerous works of fiction, including