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Edmund Morris & Edwin Mullhouse: recommended reading
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EDITOR's NOTE. NABOKV-L occasionally mentions writers that have something
of the Nabokovian about them. Below, Mary Bellino, classicist, editor, and
writer, offers Steven Milhauser as a candidate. It is a recommendation I
heartily support -- especially the novel _Edwin Mulhouse_.
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From: Mary Bellino <iambe@javanet.com>
Even more apposite to the Edmund Morris flap -- and a book Nabokovians
would probably enjoy much more -- is Steven Millhauser's novel _Edwin
Mullhouse: The Life and Death of an American Writer 1943-1954_. It takes
the form of a biography of a ten-year-old novelist written by an only
slightly older, very intrusive friend/biographer who seems actually to
have caused the boy's death (by gunshot). Critics were quick to point
out the affinities with Pale Fire, although Millhauser, in a rare
interview, explicitly denied that Nabokov was his main inspiration for
the book. Nonetheless he is clearly heavily influenced by VN, whom he
mentions (as "old Nabby") in his third novel, _From the Realm of
Morpheus_. _Edmund Mullhouse_ is one of the very best of the
post-Nabokovian (well, published in '72) American novels, much better
than the novel for which Millhauser recently won the Pulitzer prize
(_Martin Dressler_), and I recommend it to anyone who is looking for
something to read over the long weekend.
The eerie similarity of the names Edmund Morris & Edwin Mullhouse brings
to mind what is probably Millhauser's most perfect work, "Catalogue of
the Exhibition: The Art of Edmund Moorash," in which a rather
hair-raising story is told in the form of a museum catalogue -- not only
a terrific narrative idea but a great parody of the form. It's available
in the collection _Little Kingdoms_, recently reissued in paperback by
Vintage.
Mary Bellino
of the Nabokovian about them. Below, Mary Bellino, classicist, editor, and
writer, offers Steven Milhauser as a candidate. It is a recommendation I
heartily support -- especially the novel _Edwin Mulhouse_.
---------------------
From: Mary Bellino <iambe@javanet.com>
Even more apposite to the Edmund Morris flap -- and a book Nabokovians
would probably enjoy much more -- is Steven Millhauser's novel _Edwin
Mullhouse: The Life and Death of an American Writer 1943-1954_. It takes
the form of a biography of a ten-year-old novelist written by an only
slightly older, very intrusive friend/biographer who seems actually to
have caused the boy's death (by gunshot). Critics were quick to point
out the affinities with Pale Fire, although Millhauser, in a rare
interview, explicitly denied that Nabokov was his main inspiration for
the book. Nonetheless he is clearly heavily influenced by VN, whom he
mentions (as "old Nabby") in his third novel, _From the Realm of
Morpheus_. _Edmund Mullhouse_ is one of the very best of the
post-Nabokovian (well, published in '72) American novels, much better
than the novel for which Millhauser recently won the Pulitzer prize
(_Martin Dressler_), and I recommend it to anyone who is looking for
something to read over the long weekend.
The eerie similarity of the names Edmund Morris & Edwin Mullhouse brings
to mind what is probably Millhauser's most perfect work, "Catalogue of
the Exhibition: The Art of Edmund Moorash," in which a rather
hair-raising story is told in the form of a museum catalogue -- not only
a terrific narrative idea but a great parody of the form. It's available
in the collection _Little Kingdoms_, recently reissued in paperback by
Vintage.
Mary Bellino