In the Penny Arcade

by Steven Millhauser

The seven stories of In the Penny Arcade blend both the real and the fantastic in a seductive mix that illuminates the full range of Steven Millhauser's gifts, from 'August Eschenburg', the story of a clockmaker's son whose extraordinary talent for creating animated figures is lost on a world whose taste for the perverse and crude supersedes that of the refined and beautiful, to 'Cathay', a kingdom whose wonders include landscape paintings executed on the bodies of court ladies.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Fantasy, Literary Fiction, Literature, The United States Of America, Novels

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

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]

When I read books by Steven Millhauser I have a feeling that he has arrived from some faraway fairyland full of magic and rainbows.

…the Untermensch was a strictly spiritual term, and by it he meant the kind of soul that, in the presence of anything great, or noble, or beautiful, or original, instinctively longed to pull it down and reduce it to a common level. The Untermensch did this always in the name of some resounding principle: patriotism, for example, or the spirit of mankind, or social progress, or morality, or truth.

The Untermensch is an underman, an aesthetical underdog, a ubiquitous pharisee shaping opinions of the silent majority.
August Eschenburg, presumably inspired by E.T.A. Hoffmann’s dark tale The Sand-Man, is a powerful parable of pop-culture, fashion and ideology: art against kitsch, genius and mediocrity, artist versus artisan…

I’m a playful fellow – It’s my artistic nature. Look, I know them: they’re swine. I supply them with troughs. It amuses me; many things do.

A Protest Against the Sun, The Sledding Party and A Day in the Country are sad stories of solitude and angst…

The moon shocked her: it was burning white. It had burned the blackness out of the sky, leaving a radiant dark blue. She felt like breaking off a piece of the moon and pressing it against her forehead, plunging it into her mouth. She felt crazed. Tears streamed along her face.

Snowmen, In the Penny Arcade and Cathay belong to the genre of magic realism.
Cathay is marvelously and mysteriously poetic…

Those who have stood in the shadow of the dragon say it is accompanied by an icy wind. The tail of a dragon, glittering in the light of the sun, is said to be covered with blue and yellow scales. The head of a dragon is emerald and gold, its tongue scarlet, its eyes pits of fire. It is said that the venom which drips from its terrible jaws is hotter than boiling pitch. It is said that to see a dragon is to be changed forever. Some do not believe in dragons, because they have not seen them; it is like not believing in one’s own death, because one has not yet died.

Snowmen and In the Penny Arcade are tales of childhood and adolescence and coming of age…

A desolation had fallen over the creatures of the penny arcade. Even the real, live people strolling noisily about had become infected with the general woodenness; their laughter sounded forced, their gestures seemed exaggerated and unconvincing. I felt caught in an atmosphere of decay and disappointment.

We grow up and the miracles of our childhood turn into the ordinary shabby things.

[Will Byrnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Millhauser has a Pulitzer to his name, and his tale of a remarkable magician, Eisenheim the Illusionist (not in this collection), was adapted to the screen in 2006 as The Illusionist. He has a very rich imagination and can weave together the real and un-real with great skill.

The collection offers a trio of reality-based stories sandwiched between works of a fantastical nature.


Steven Millhauser - image from Arthur Smith’s site A Few Reasonable Words

August Eschenberg is the long opening tale of a clockmaker, and creator of what we would call animatronics today, who must cope with a world in which the inferior and crass succeeds at the expense of the sublime.

A Protest Against the Sun shows a 16-year-old at the beach with her family, clinging to the innocence of her youth as she steps back and forth between childhood and adulthood.

In The Sledding Party a teenager at a winter party becomes upset when a boy she considers just a friend confesses his love to her then runs away.

In A Day in the Country, a woman on a weekend retreat is unsettled by a mysterious, sad-looking woman she keeps seeing. When the woman finally speaks to her, we learn the vacationer’s secret.

Back to fantasy in part III

Snowmen portrays one-upsmanship in a neighborhood as people compete to construct the most fantastical snow-based creations.

In The Penny Arcade, a 12-yr-old boy is disappointed by the place, remembering it as a more lively and promising venue. Now the games seem old and dusty. But when there is a sudden silence, he finds a closed off area and returns to experience the games the way he remembers. One must bring a bit of magical expectation to get magic in return.

Cathay is a fantasy, in many small chunks, about beauty. It describes diverse aspects of this strange place, including that the Court women have elaborate miniatures painted on their eyelids and breasts.

I had a mixed reaction to this collection of stories. I felt very drawn in by most, (August Eschenberg, A Protest Against the Sun, A Day in the Country, In the Penny Arcade) but removed from others (The Sledding Party, Snowmen, Cathay). Millhauser clearly has the ability to make his characters live. One could certainly feel the conflict of the 16-year-old at the beach, struggling to walk the line between child and woman, and the pressure building in a vacationing woman in need of relief from her grief, but at times the author seemed more interested in making a point, using characters as, well, automatons in service of a larger purpose. That said, I found his writing beautiful, rich and satisfying. His fantasies are fascinating.

He has been nominated for and has won many awards for his work, including a World Fantasy Award in 1990 for The Illusionist, and a nomination in 1995 for his short story The Sisterhood of Night, a Pulitzer Prize in 1997 for Martin Dressler, a Shirly Jackson Award in 2009 for his collection Dangerous Laughter, and a Pen/Faulkner Fiction nomination in 2012 for his story collection We Others.



============================EXTRA STUFF

Profile - from Random House

STEVEN MILLHAUSER is the author of numerous works of fiction, including the novel Martin Dressler, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1997, and We Others: New and Selected Stories, winner of The Story Prize in 2011 and a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award. His work has been translated into eighteen languages, and his story Eisenheim the Illusionist was the basis of the 2006 film The Illusionist. He lives in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Links to Milhauser’s Wiki and FB page - the latter was last updated in 2018

New Yorker - Stories by SM

Harper’s - a short story - Late

Translantica - An Interview with Steven Millhauser by Étienne Février

Journal of the Short Story in English - some analysis - Steven Millhauser, a Very Late Modernist by Earl G. Ingersoll

[Julia Luckett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple stories become poetic, expansive and touch on the mystery of the human experience. His writing is delicious.

[Krok Zero · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's hard to describe Steven Millhauser's stories to those who haven't encountered them, so I'm not even gonna try. I will say that this book is divided into three sections. The first and third sections are perfect, enchanting, Millhauser at his best; the middle section is lukewarm and undistinguished.

The first section is comprised solely of the novella-length story, "August Eschenberg." It's an immersive and fascinating piece, plunging the reader into an evocative 19th-century Germany, telling the story of a now-familiar Millhauser character type: the obsessive, brilliant, marginalized artist. This one's a maker of clockwork animated figures, and his story unfolds beautifully over sixty-odd pages. My only complaint is that it ends a bit abruptly, but that's not entirely inappropriate here.

The middle section is where things get murky. These three stories aren't bad, per se, they're just not very Millhauser-esque. They lack the evocative, sophisticated enchantment and magic that marks the author's best work. They're more like standard New Yorker short stories, nicely crafted but unsatisfying and inconsequential.

But things pick up again for the third section, which features three delightful enchantments that will seal the deal for new readers' love of Millhauser (or re-confirm it for established fans). This was Millhauser's first collection of short stories, and while he would go on to craft more consistent ones, the high points of IN THE PENNY ARCADE are as good as anything he's written.

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wanted to read this collection after encountering his story "Mermaid Fever" in Harper's (Dec 2009). I use the word "encountering" because it was the most pleasant, unexpected experience. I had met a story that brought my fever for literature back. I am in awe of his descriptions, from his perspective about human emotions and reactions, to his focus on the parts of our world that seem magical, probably aren't, but maybe...are? Like snowmen, a mechanical fortune teller, a stranger on the hiking path. This collection of stories settled right into my bones. The first novella-like story, August Eschenberg, rallied a sense of wonder and passion and reminded me of my favorite book, Of Human Bondage. A struggling-artist, a visionary's journey, simple and complicated all at once. If you are the type to moon and swoon over words, you will find lines and lines to reread and sigh over.

[Jesse · Rating 2 out of 5]

Millhauser has a great sense of magic, but none of the book lives up to the promise of the lead-off story, "August Eschenburg." Some of the other stories are nice, but most float in a navel-gazy/semi-plotless/New Yorkery haze.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book of early stories by author Steven Millhauser. He is one of my favorite authors in the category of "magical realism." Worth reading.

[Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seven short stories that linger. There is magic, there is the fantastic, there is life happening, and there is sadness for what has gone.

[Robert Morgan Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's really no one like Millhauser. He pioneered a style of writing that might be described as Steampunk/Escher. Atmosphere and at times excruciating detail are the hallmarks of a Millhauser story. Yet the scenes and characters often have a shallow, caricature feel to them—like panels in a graphic novel or comic book.

He'll obsess on a situation or storyline until it begins to metastasize. He'll often get bogged down in early 20th century East Coast life with many of his stories set there—one can assume he either spent a past life in NYC around the turn of the 19th/20th century. There are, as far as I can tell, no Millhauser stories with Black characters save for an unfortunate passing reference here to a "Negro" with blubber lips. Three of the stories here made his Selected Stories volume. I can remember being enthralled by Millhauser when I first read him, then gradually seeing his limitations.

Or maybe he's just keenly aware of his brand and the worlds he likes to create/inhabit as a writer. A few of his stories are masterpieces, such as "In the Reign of Harad IV." One thing is for sure: he's consistent.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the titular story, the narrator acknowledges of the penny arcade, "It was not prizes I had come out of the sun for. It was something else I had come for, something mysterious and elusive that I could scarcely name," and at the end of the story he discovers what that is: "I recognized that I myself had become part of the conspiracy of dullness, and that only in a moment of lavish awareness, which had left me confused and exhausted, had I seen truly. [...] I saw that I was in danger of becoming ordinary, and I understood that from now on I would have to be vigilant." That sums up the best of Milhauser's stories: characters who discover - within themselves and the world - some key that opens up mystery and obsession. That's Milhauser at his best. In the three middle stories of this collection, however, he tries for realism, and those are disappointing and ordinary.

[Terry Mulcahy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful stories. In the Penny Arcade is certainly the short story with the most wonder. But, August Eschenberg, the first story, is the best. However, I would be remiss not to mention A Day in the Country. It appears to be a simple narrative, but it is not. The revealed darkness of a disturbed mind has inspired me to write a similar story of my own. Snowmen, and The Sledding Party are also wonderful observations of human behavior. Snowmen has its air of wonder. The Sledding Party draws one inside another troubled mind. I certainly recommend this book and any of the other books by this author.

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic, expertly crafted short stories that flirt with a few different styles, though similar themes are consistently addressed. August Eschenburg, Snowmen, the title story, and Cathay are somewhat fabulist tales that revolve around the topic of perfectionism and obsession in art, approaching these themes through a variety of lenses. The middle three stories, A Protest Against the Sun, The Sledding Party, and A Day in the Country are a bit more grounded in reality. They are subtle, deep psychological examinations of three women in different walks of life. They reminded me of JD Salinger's short stories (especially from Nine Stories), and may actually surpass Salinger's work in some ways.

All in all, a great collection of stories that display the multitude and depth of talents possessed by this somewhat overlooked author.

[Justin Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like Millhauser best when he's dreamlike and fragmentary, which he does like no other but only really achieves in the last two stories of this collection -- a story set in the kingdom of Cathay, and another in a run-down, then mystically refurbished, arcade. Before then, though, Millhauser makes a surprising showing in the realists' division, with stories about a sledding party gone bad and a day at the beach that, while nothing special, show a register I didn't know he had.

[Joe Santoli · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short stories from an author who enjoys magic and the fantastical. Some are better than others. Focuses more on magic and wonder and uses such themes as a penny arcade, automatons and parlor tricks. Definitely feels like the 1930's. I used this piece for my "published" literature review but I don't know why, I don't like it that much.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

With his words, Steven Millhauser turns the ordinary into the extraordinary and fills the mind with descriptions that can become muse to the visual artist.

[Rebecca Lartigue · Rating 3 out of 5]

My faves were "Snowmen" (a lot like his "Mermaid Fever," though--not sure which preceded which) and "Cathay."

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

Growing up is scary.

[Nick Sweeney · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection starts well with the 64-page August Eschenburg. August is an artist in the making of automata - clockwork figures - who strives for an ever-increasing, and rather pointless, realism in the figures he makes. He is from a watchmaking background, but is soon using his figures in advertising and in the theatre.

It's a strange tale, set in late 19th century Germany, an age that, in SM's view, seems to have reached a level of decadence usually associated with the later Weimar Republlic. Germans are, in the view of August's canny partner Hausenstein, 'untermenschen', people of a lower order; in his view, August's art is wasted on them, and all they deserve is the cheap titillation they so obviously crave. August and Hausenstein pursue a battle between aesthetics versus quick money, so the tale becomes one about the gaps and alliances between art and capitalism. This makes it all sound a bit dry - it's not: it's a fantastically well-written story with a well-drawn, authentic atmosphere.

The other stories are impeccably written too. A Protest Against the Sun, The Sledding Party and A Day in the Country make up part two of the collection. They are all tales of outings; people away from their usual environment. A Protest Against the Sun takes place on a summer beach, and features the strange appearance of an unsuitably-dressed young man, though, as with the other stories, this incident is almost peripheral to the story itself. A Day in the Country focuses on a woman unsure of the changes going on in her life. The Sledding Party looks at the unsteady relationships between a group of friends, how they can change at a moment's notice, the wrong word, a strange gesture.

In the last part of the book the stories feature themes and images based on fantasy. Snowmen shows the perceptions worked into the minds of children under a heavy fall of snow; we can't always tell if the images they see are real. This theme continues in In the Penny Arcade, which also brings us neatly back to the automata seen in August Eschenberg; it is our belief in the reality of the figures that make them magical. The last story, Cathay, was the only one I found disappointing: it's a sort of list of the attributes of a fabled land, and looks more like it ought to have been background in some other story.

Great stories all in all, though, and I'm looking forward to reading more of Steven Millhauser's work.

[Dan Plonsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection is worth acquiring, at lest for long enough to read the leadoff story, the novella August Eschenburg. This is one of Millhauser's stories of obsessive and frankly impossible artistry, in this case the clockwork automaton figures built by the title character. As in The Little Kingdoms of J. Franklin Payne, the creator repeatedly rejects suggestions by friends and employers that he cheapen his art by taking shortcuts and making the attempt to appeal to a broader audience. That, however, is the least interesting aspect to these stories. Also repeated -- and uninteresting as well -- is the increasing isolation of the artist. What I find most profound in this story are the particular details of both reality and unreality of the real and imagined worlds, and again the strong suggestion that in order to depict reality, one most depict the impossible, and the related idea, that an artificial person can reveal human emotions with more clarity of and poetry of expression than a real person ever could.

Following this novella, labeled together as Part II, are three short stories of which two appeared -- unsurprisingly, for their slightly kitschy qualities -- in The New Yorker.

Lastly, Part III is a collection of minor but distinctively Millhausean stories, of which Cathay is my favorite. It's basically a catalog of marvels of an impossible palace, which concludes in a battle among applicants for the position of Court Magician.

[Nathanial · Rating 3 out of 5]

What is it that leads me to distrust his work?

Is it the obsession with artifice, in this book so oft-expressed with motifs of automaton figures, characteristic compulsions to scruitinize device (both in theme and technique), and almost-maniacal attentions to detail - those little moments and petits-morts upon which a plot can hinge?

His minimalist introspections evoke Stefan Zweig's globe-trotting psychoanalysis in their diligent sweep, and yet the frame of reference by which he pulls in impossible worlds may most resemble Calvino's "Invisible Cities."

And yet, something seems forced - maybe it's evidence of a decades-long investigation into nuance and elaboration, but a careless reader could almost sense a strain in Millhauser's voice: as he evokes, with breathless wonder, the miracles of the everyday; or, as he tries on, with gleeful uncertainty, a progression of poses and stances, glorying in unresolved dialogue, and satisfied only with the unanswerable questions: a careless reader could almost think that he wants us, too, to believe that "it's all so incredible" - which patently takes the life out of it.

And yet, and yet...

[Elise Haein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I enjoyed the short stories in In The Penny Arcade as a whole, and think that Millhauser is an excellent writer, after finishing the book I realized that I didn't really love ANY of the stories enough to give the book a four/five star rating.

Even while in the midst of reading them, I kept mentally comparing Millhauser's stories to stories written by other favorite authors of mine: Cathay at the end reminded me of something in Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities or maybe a story by Borges, the first story about clockwork automatons kind of reminded me of Jeff Vandermeer, the next few stories in Part II reminded me of Shirley Jackson's stories, the Snowmen reminded me of a China Mieville story, and so on and so on.

I think that this may be unfair to Millhauser, since I'm pretty sure at least some of his stories in In The Penny Arcade were written before the ones I mention. On the other hand... as lovely as his writing style is, for me his collection of short stories just lacks something (is it the endings that are a let down? the characters?? I don't know) to make it a keeper.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've tried to write a reveiw here something like seven times. I want to say that Millhauser turned me into a literary reader, but that's not really true. I don't know what that means, really.

I want to say that Millhauser shaped my understanding of fabulist fiction, but what is that - fabulist fiction? That does not matter, either.

I want to say that Millhauser's automatons and mechanical cowboy captured my imagination, or some stupid shit like that. I think that I can't write a review for this book, because it is still living in me, somehow, and that means that I have to lean on all kinds of meaningless writerly bullshit.

It was only a dollar on the half-price shelf,as was Ingalls' Mrs. Caliban, back when half-price was smelly and disorganized.

[Katelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

An earlier Millhauser collection than how I entered his work, and it's evident. These stories feel a little less refined & are a little clunkier than his recent work.

This collection makes me really love Dangerous Laughter even more, which seems like a distillation and logical conclusion of where his work will be heading: a more-theoretical place of infinite regress, of mise-en-abîme, of pattern and form that ascends content and weight.

At any rate, some of these stories really amaze. The eponymous story, while initially somewhat lacking, ends with a really fantastic mantra-message.
Overall, an early collection of works where Millhauser begins to discover the themes and ideas where he really explodes.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

I may have gotten one of my new favorite quotes from this book. I'll probably have to revise this review to make sure I get the wording right, but the general quote--from the titular story--is, "He saw that he was in danger of becoming ordinary, and would have to be always vigilant."

Steven Millhauser, however, is in no such danger, and frankly, I don't think I could get tired of his style. Up next, more of his novels/novellas, and hopefully soon his newest short story collection. 4 stars on this one because I wanted there to be more stories--the first one was the longest part of the book and I found myself wishing it could have been a couple of shorter ones.

[Rob T · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a big Steven Millhauser fan, so I can't claim to be impartial. In the Penny Arcade is a solid exploration of realism, of art, of mirrors, of perfection. If you're looking to get into Millhauser than start with Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer to dig into these same ideas. If you know you like Millhauser then In the Penny Arcade is full of stories not easily forgotten that explore a theme running throughout art.

[Patrickmalka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Until this collection, and particularly its final story, I had no idea that whole worlds could be created in such spectacular detail. This was my first experience reading Millhauser and it certainly won't be the last. His stories have a familiar quality to them that make them easy to enter but once you're there, you realize you've entered a much dreamier, imaginative and often sinister place. I just don't know how else to describe it. Beautifully written stories.

[Andrew Bertaina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't think this is Millhauser's best. However, it's still better than most story collections out there. I've read nearly everything by the guy, and, like many writers he eventually settles into a rhythm of stories and themes, which, by now, feel a little less fresh. That said, he's one of the living masters of the form.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

i accidentally dropped a full glass of water onto this book. since then, i have this uneasy feeling, perhaps some kind of guilt or remorse, everytime i see this book on my bookshelf. that's why i put it aside and never read it again. too bad for a pulitzer prize winning book.

[Esther · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of stories by Millhauser, among them the story from which Edward Norton's film, 'The Illusionist' comes. Some of the stories are much better written and more engaging than others, but - on the whole - it's worth flipping through.

[Dusty Summers · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up after reading Millhauser's fantastic Martin Dressler. Many of the short stories in The Penny Arcade feel like a dress rehearsal for Martin Dressler both in theme and character study.