Rare Steven Millhauser FROM THE REALM OF MORPHEUS Signed First Edition with -William Morrow [Hardcover] Steven Millhauser

by Steven Millhauser

This rare and vintage book is a perfect addition to any bibliophile's collection

Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Novels, Literature

233 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1986

About the author

Millhauser was born in New York City, grew up in Connecticut, and earned a B.A. from Columbia University in 1965. He then pursued a doctorate in English at Brown University. He never completed his dissertation but wrote parts of Edwin Mullhouse and From the Realm of Morpheus in two separate stays at Brown. Between times at the university, he wrote Portrait of a Romantic at his parents' house in Connecticut. His story "The Invention of Robert Herendeen" (in The Barnum Museum) features a failed student who has moved back in with his parents; the story is loosely based on this period of Millhauser's life.

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 Boswell to Edwin's Johnson. Edwin Mullhouse brought critical acclaim, and Millhauser followed with a second novel, Portrait of a Romantic, in 1977, and his first collection of short stories, In The Penny Arcade, in 1986.

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).

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."

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 Millhauser increased attention. Dangerous Laughter: Thirteen Stories made the New York Times Book Review list of "10 Best Books of 2008".

Millhauser lives in Saratoga Springs, New York and teaches at Skidmore College.

Reviews

[Vit Babenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the Realm of Morpheus begins as a fabulous cross between The Divine Comedy and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The protagonist descends into the underworld where shadows of the dead abide in sorrow and beyond it he discovers the realm of Morpheus which is much vaster and more exotic than Elysium. Steven Millhauser writes in the very juicy and rich language so the book is a real treasure for any lover of words…

“Who knows not Morpheus, that tender lad? His hollow cheeks give him the appearance of one who perpetually sips nectar through a straw. One slender hand lies crossed over his alabaster chest and in the other hand he bears a copy of the Theaetetus with which he discreetly shields his private parts. It’s the wetdream of a Victorian vicar with a dubious passion for Greek.
Who knows not Morpheus, that tender lad?
His eyes are bloodshot, and his breath is bad.
But sit down, voyager, take a load off your feet. And stick that lamp or whatever it is somewhere or other why don’t you. It makes you look like the wistful offspring of the Statue of Liberty.”

And the trek through the realm commences... And Morpheus himself is a guide… The Tale of Ignotus is a Gothic story of a vivified portrait of a young man in the style of E.T.A. Hoffmann.
And Morpheus has his own enigmatic hall of mirrors and his own infinite library of Babel…

Here books were fluttering across the aisle from one shelf to another, gently flapping their pages. Some of these books hovered uncertainly about the shelves, as if searching for a place to rest; others inserted themselves between books in rows, and appeared to sleep. Now and then the air became so thick with flying books that it became necessary for me to raise an arm before my face and with my other hand to push the sharp-edged books carefully aside as I passed. Once a book landed lightly on my shoulder and after a few steps rose with gentle flapping sounds and flew to a higher shelf.

The Tale of Morpheus and Volumnia is a bucolic story of Morpheus’s own experience of family life and the tale is as piquant as The Canterbury Tales…

Woo not and wed not, sue not and dread not; for well wed is ill sped, and fair married foul harried. Beware the mar in marriage, and wedlock’s lock; shun holy acrimony, nor hang thyself with a well-tied nuptial knot.

In The Tale of Heklo and Ekli, which is written à la Gulliver’s Travels, a giantess falls in love with the protagonist.
The last escapades are painted in the manner of The Adventures of Baron Münchausen: in The Tale of the City in the Sea the narrator and Morpheus, swallowed by the whale, visit Atlantis and in The Tale of a Voyage to the Moon they arrive to the Moon, which is nether Earth’s barren satellite nor the moon of poets and lunatics…
The dreamworld turns out to be much wider and greater than the entire real world.

[Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite Millhauser novels. No one writes like him and no one can make the ordinary se extraordinary like he can.

[Step Schwarz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily my favorite novel, and it never even made it to paperback..

[John Funderburg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Millhauser can, like no other author, transport me into a realm that is at once irrevocably foreign and undeniably familiar. His dreamlike scenarios are unparalleled, and I find myself immensely grateful each time I sit down with one of his books. I feel an odd kinship with his works, which I cannot describe fully. It's as if he is able to capture words, thoughts, emotions that I could only dream of describing, and he does it with what appears to be ease, though any writer will tell you it only looks easy because he's just THAT good. The best way Millhauser can be described is thus: he's M.C. Escher with a pen. I don't believe I'm the first to say that, but to attribute that to him is wholly accurate. Again, it's been a pleasure to read.

[Ellen M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

“‘Thank you, sir,’ I said respectfully. ‘I’ve listened with great attention to your tale, which I feel has been truly instructive, though I hope you won’t take offense if I confess that I can’t say precisely how.’”

I did not love this book. It felt like walking through a desert. I only really finished it because 1) it’s Millhauser and 2) I was hoping it would get better. His writing is always very hit or miss for me, but the premise was so promising!! What if the Inferno took place in dreamland instead?

Millhauser is known for fixating on specific themes, and From the Realm of Morpheus has pretty much all of them. Lush descriptions of surreal scenes, ornate Escherian architecture, miniatures, and a dream-like atmosphere. The only thing missing was automatons lol. I usually love his writing despite (and perhaps because of) that repetition, but this time there were too many sticking points to really enjoy the book.

First, Morpheus’ dialect was overdone and tiring to read. The writing was flatter than I’m used to for Millhauser, and his usually suboptimal portrayal of women sunk to a new low. I’m hoping that’s attributable to this being one of his earlier books, but it’s still disappointing. The numerous female characters in this book had the sole purpose of being pale, fickle sexual objects, and we spent a GREAT deal of time expounding upon that. There were brief moments of light. Carl spent a considerable amount of time having social anxiety on the moon, and the Atlantis portion was pleasant, but not enough to overcome the dull bits.

The story also felt disjointed because it seemed like he couldn’t decide if he wanted Carl and Morpheus to be actual, fleshed out characters or not. He ping-ponged back and further between his usual descriptive style, and short, widely spaced bursts of reminding us that Carl is a Person with Feelings and Wants too. He often doesn’t have characters in his stories, and I think that could’ve been a better route to take.

I read Millhauser because he explores human nature in a really beautiful way, and he just didn’t in this book.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ultra-imaginative, brilliant journey of a book. Intimidating, even.

[Michelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Could not get past page 30. Sooo boring.