Steven Millhauser
Steven Millhauser
Steven Millhauseris an American novelist and short story writer. He won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel Martin Dressler. The prize brought many of his older books back into print...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth3 August 1943
CountryUnited States of America
argue dislike endless system vital
What I dislike is conventional realism - a system of gestures, descriptions, psychological revelations that was once a vital way of representing the world but has become hackneyed through endless repetition. I'd argue that a conventional realist isn't a realist at all, but a falsifier of the real.
center life people prefer readers takes
Writing is a way of getting at the things most people would prefer to escape. Writing takes me to the center of life. That's my invitation to my readers as well.
along certain crucial drives knows might mind permission points starting though time
When a story or part of a story comes to me, I turn it over in my mind a long time before starting to write. I might make notes or take long drives or who knows what. By the time I give myself permission to write, I know certain things, though not everything. I know where the story is headed, and I know certain crucial points along the way.
appears echo eighth irritated near park pleased published recent voyage
One thing I learned is that the park by the river in a recent story, 'Getting Closer,' is the same park by the river that appears for a moment near the end of 'The Eighth Voyage of Sinbad,' a story first published 23 years earlier. This echo at first irritated me, then pleased me deeply.
artist child childhood earning exploring explosion growing guise leaves leaving living means
I think of childhood as an explosion of creativity. For most people, growing up and earning a living means leaving all that behind. But an artist never leaves that behind. Edwin Mullhouse was my way of exploring the child as artist and, under the guise of childhood, something larger.
delusions disappear escaping exactly people strike themselves truth
I never write to disappear and escape. The truth is exactly the opposite. Most people strike me as escaping and disappearing in one way or another - into their jobs, their daily routines, their delusions about themselves and others.
began comfort good hear matters music rhythms room small study
I began by working in a study in an attic, but for many years, I've used a small room in a library. What matters to me isn't decor or comfort but only quiet. I need to hear the rhythms of phrases, the music of sentences. Any place that allows me to do that is good enough.
good plenty reasons repeat repetition sign
Repetition for no reason is a sign of carelessness or pretentiousness, but there are plenty of good reasons to repeat words and phrases.
familiar
If you read a story with an 'I' or a 'he' or a 'she,' you're in familiar territory - but 'we' is mostly unexplored. I think of 'we' as an adventure.
fear frightened seeing
If you fear phantoms, you're like a child frightened of seeing things in the dark.
time
I don't take off time from teaching to write. I take time off from writing to teach.
space mad silence
Perhaps sound is only an insanity of silence, a mad gibber of empty space grown fearful of listening to itself and hearing nothing.
dream ambition solitude
His ambition was to insert his dreams into the world, and if they were the wrong dreams, then he would dream them in solitude.
absolutely-nothing knows
We know nothing. Absolutely nothing.