Martin Dressler--The Tale of an American Dreamer by Steven Millhauser

Second reading; first read about 1999.


The American dream of rags to riches is the subject of this winner of the 1997 Pulitzer Prize, but it is a far cry from the Horatio Alger myth. In fact, it might better be described as a rags to riches to rags again saga about the failure of the American dream to live up to its promise.

Martin Dressler is the son of a cigar shop owner in New York toward the end of the 20th Century who rises step by step up the ladder of wealth and success, before his dreams betray him. Always striving and restless to achieve more, "...it seemed to Martin that if only he could imagine something else, something greater, something as great as the whole world, then he might rest awhile." In the end he discovers "...he had dreamed the wrong dream, the dream that others didn't wish to enter...."

Paralleling the story of Martin's professional life is the story of his courtship and marriage to the beautiful blond Catherine, whom he views as a sleeping princess waiting his love to awaken her. Once again, he has dreamed the wrong dream.

What separates this seemingly simple plot from the mundane is Millhauser's choice to tell the story as an allegory, combining straight-forward narration of facts and actions with dream-like flights into the fantastical. I believe readers not reading the text from this viewpoint will find the juxtaposition of the two to be confusing, because the shifts are subtle, although very well done.

This novel reminds me very much of The Great Gatsby in many ways. It is not nearly as good (What is?), but it has plot elements in common and conveys something of the same message.

Millhauser has very skillfully written an insightful examination of the optimism of America. However, I feel that the same theme has been developed better, both before and since.