Steven Millhauser, We Others ****

The first book I read on my Kindle!

We Others is a collection of new and reprinted stories. Millhauser has a very distinctive writing style that combines old-fashioned prose with contemporary flourishes. Like his novel Martin Dressler, his stories tend to take place in the past — he is especially enamored of the late nineteenth century — and to move from a detailed realism at the beginning to over-the-top fantasy by the end. (Would a story like "August Eschenburg" be considered steampunk?) It's a joy to read an author interested in the pleasures of narrative.

I enjoyed most of the stories in the collection. My least favorite was the one that strayed farthest from Millhauser's typical concerns: the early story "A Protest Against the Sun," which seemed like faux J.D. Salinger. My favorites included most of the new stories (although not the over-long title story), "August Eschenburg," and "The Barnum Museum."

A major theme of the story "August Eschenburg" was the purpose of art and motivations of artists. One character asserts that "the proper end of a work of art was to arouse in the beholder a state of quiet reflection and not of astonishment." Despite the fantastic flights to which Millhauser's stories often lead, they do arouse in me a state of quiet reflection.