Be Specific About Regarding Books Edwin Mullhouse: The Life and Death of an American Writer 1943-1954 by Jeffrey Cartwright
| Title | : | Edwin Mullhouse: The Life and Death of an American Writer 1943-1954 by Jeffrey Cartwright |
| Author | : | Steven Millhauser |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 305 pages |
| Published | : | April 16th 1996 by Vintage (first published 1972) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Novels. Literature. American |
Steven Millhauser
Paperback | Pages: 305 pages Rating: 4.06 | 827 Users | 83 Reviews
Commentary Concering Books Edwin Mullhouse: The Life and Death of an American Writer 1943-1954 by Jeffrey Cartwright
I originally read this book in my sophomore year of high school, and remember little about it except that I liked it. Reading it again, it turns out that Edwin Mullhouse is actually one of my favorite books; if I didn't know any better, I'd also venture that it's been a fairly significant influence on my own sporadic attempts at fiction. Huh. There's a lot going on here: a parody of the impulse to biography (since the narrator is a sixth-grader and the subject is his next-door neighbor and playmate, the parody is mostly implicit, so that Millhauser can go in for some straight-played analysis and leave it to the reader to remember who's doing the talking), a pretty sophisticated first-person narrator of uncertain reliability, and so on. Mostly, though, it's a precisely described, regally dictated catalog of childhood memory (that is, personal) and postwar Americana (that is, universal); the idea, which is a dominant and explict theme in Millhauser's recent short fiction, is that language (or, more generally, any kind of art or other vehicle), if utilized to its fullest potential, can grant us access to the totality of experience. We would be able to remember everything, if only we could find the right words for all of it.
Present Books Conducive To Edwin Mullhouse: The Life and Death of an American Writer 1943-1954 by Jeffrey Cartwright
| Original Title: | Edwin Mullhouse, The Life and Death of an American Writer 1943-1954 by Jeffrey Cartwright |
| ISBN: | 0679766529 (ISBN13: 9780679766520) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Literary Awards: | Prix Médicis Etranger (1975) |
Rating Regarding Books Edwin Mullhouse: The Life and Death of an American Writer 1943-1954 by Jeffrey Cartwright
Ratings: 4.06 From 827 Users | 83 ReviewsCriticism Regarding Books Edwin Mullhouse: The Life and Death of an American Writer 1943-1954 by Jeffrey Cartwright
Millhauser mines familiar ground as he blurs the borders between fiction and reality, calling into question historical veracity, memoir "truth" and possibility of objectivity. Jeffrey Cartwright is my new favorite unreliable narrator.A lot of times I feel like my preconceived notions of a novel plays a disproportionate role in my eventual reaction to the book. For instance, I'll read a book like Lolita and I go into it knowing that it's one of the major works of the 20th century, and that Nabokov is a master of English prose. The same is true with novels that I hear criticism of. If reviewers I tend to a agree with disparage a book, I'll find myself prone a somewhat hidden wish to confirm their opinion. I don't think this is
I wanted to like this more than I did. I'm a fan of Steven Millhauser and I get that he likes to use lots of detail. But in this story the detail gets so laborious, the lists so long and obscure, the sidetracks and permutations so great--I lost the story somewhere along the way. I don't even really know what happened.
the novel i keep recommending to my students and anyone who will listen - no one ever reads it - it is a marvel!My best of the 20th century pick - i love this novel in every way possible - also read his other marvel - "portrait of a romantic"p.s. if you saw the movie "The Illusionist" - this was based on a short story by Stehphen M.
This one's a satire on biography. Young Jeffrey Cartwright writes the life story of his best friend next door, Edwin, who lives all the way to the ripe age of 11. Jeffrey presents Edwin as "an American writer" because he created a book of cartoons. Jeffrey may be imitating the classic Life of Johnson by Boswell. He affects a brainy, academic tone as he describes the small stuff of childhood. On Edwin in kindergarten: "Later he was fascinated by the yellow paper with its alternately dark blue and
"Isnt it true that the biographer performs a function nearly as great as, or precisely as great as, or actually greater by far than the function performed by the artist himself? For the artist creates the work of art, but the biographer, so to speak, creates the artist".In the end every story becomes different from what its author wanted it to be. In the end our life turns out to be a different story than we wished it to.
It seemed like a cute premise, but I did not like much about this book at all. It was difficult for me to read due to the heaps of description and OH MY GOODNESS the lists! If they walk into a store, the author provides a list of every item they saw in the store, sometimes taking up more than a whole page. It's not cute, it's completely useless, unnecessary, and incredibly annoying. Also, I won't spoil it, but WTF - that ending?! That's all kinds of messed up.
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