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Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer (Vintage Contemporaries) (Paperback)

Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer (Vintage Contemporaries) By Steven Millhauser Cover Image
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Description


PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • The author of Voices in the Night reveals the mesmerizing journey of an American dreamer as he walks a haunted line between fantasy and reality, madness and ambition, art and industry.

“This wonderful, wonder-full book is a fable and phantasmagoria of the sources of our century.” —The New York Times Book Review


Young Martin Dressler begins his career as an industrious helper in his father's cigar store.  In the course of his restless young manhood, he makes a swift and eventful rise to the top, accompanied  by two sisters--one a dreamlike shadow, the other a worldly business partner. As the eponymous Martin's vision becomes bolder and bolder, a  sense of doom builds piece-by-hypnotic piece until this mesmerizing journey reaches its bitter-sweet conclusion.

About the Author


STEVEN MILLHAUSER is the author of numerous works of fiction, including Martin Dressler, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1997, and, most recently, Dangerous Laughter, a New York Times Book Review Best Book of the Year. His work has been translated into fifteen languages, and his story “Eisenheim the Illusionist” was the basis of the 2006 film The Illusionist. He teaches at Skidmore College and lives in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Praise For…


"This wonderful, wonder-full book is a fable and phantasmagoria of the sources of our century." —The New York Times Book Review

"The novel is told as a fable, with prose both lush and dreamlike. The characters are intentionally rather shadowy, while the period details- of building construction, interior design, dress styles, street scenes—have a sensuality so palpable you can practically chew on them." —The Wall Street Journal

"A Chronicle of obsession, self-indulgence, and, in a curious way, moral growth, expertly poised between realistic narrative and allegorical fable.... A fascinating and provocative portrayal of turn-of-the-century America that hums with energy and wit." —Kirkus Reviews

"Literature's romance with building-as-metaphor earns new energy through Millhauser's latest novel...which quietly chronicles the life of an entrepreneur whose career peaks when he builds a fabulous hotel.... Taking its place alongside other fine tales of architectural symbology, from Poe to Ayn Rand, this enticing novel becomes at once a tale of life, a marriage and a creative imagination in crisis." —Publishers Weekly


Product Details
ISBN: 9780679781271
ISBN-10: 0679781277
Publisher: Vintage
Publication Date: March 25th, 1997
Pages: 304
Language: English
Series: Vintage Contemporaries