Be Specific About Books Supposing 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)

Edwin Mullhouse: The Life and Death of an American Writer 1943-1954 by Jeffrey Cartwright Paperback | Pages: 305 pages

Specify About 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

Explanation During 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.

Rating About Books Edwin Mullhouse: The Life and Death of an American Writer 1943-1954 by Jeffrey Cartwright

Ratings: 4.06 From 827 Users | 83 Reviews

Assessment About Books Edwin Mullhouse: The Life and Death of an American Writer 1943-1954 by Jeffrey Cartwright

Based on writing alone, this was undoubtedly a five. Really excellent, precise, vivid writing. And I enjoyed the book a lot and think it was an interesting premise but it felt very flat to me because at its heart it told such an ordinary story of childhood. I do love the premise: it's supposedly 11-year-old Jeffrey writing the biography of his genius best friend and neighbor, when in fact Jeffrey is the true genius and Edwin is a totally ordinary boy who Jeffrey becomes obsessed with. And I

On the one hand, I found this a wholly original and interesting novel, but on the other hand, I sometimes found the execution of its premise (the biography of an 11-year-old by the subject's next-door neighbor and obsessive admirer) wearying in its detail and layers of imagery. This the the kind of book that presents itself a particular challenge, which is to make its narrative true to its conceits while simultaneously engaging readers. It's on this point that I found the novel lacking at times,

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 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

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.

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.

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.