The Knife Thrower and Other Stories

The Knife Thrower and Other Stories is a collection of short stories by Steven Millhauser, published in 1998 by Crown Publishers. Most of the stories were previously published by various journals, such as The Paris Review, Harper's Magazine, and The New Yorker. It continues in a similar vein to Millhauser's previous efforts that mix the extraordinary into everyday life.

Stories

• "The Knife Thrower" (Harper's Magazine, March 1997)
• "A Visit" (The New Yorker, August 17, 1997)
• "The Sisterhood of Night" (Harper's Magazine, July 1994)
• "The Way Out" (Story)
• "Flying Carpets" (The Paris Review, Winter 1997)
• "The New Automaton Theater" (Canto, 1981)
• "Clair de Lune"
• "The Dream of the Consortium" (Harper's Magazine. March 1993)
• "Balloon Flight, 1870" (The Yale Review, July 1997)
• "Paradise Park" (Grand Street, March 1993)
• "Kaspar Hauser Speaks" (The Kenyon Review)
• "Beneath the Cellars of Our Town"

Reception

Acknowledging that the stories in the collection are "charmingly written," New York Times literary critic Michiko Kakutani complained that "they feel more like tired exercises designed to showcase Millhauser's baroque powers of description." Kakutani adds:

Reviewer A. S. Byatt at The Washington Post writes:

Retrospective appraisal

Describing the stories in The Knife Thrower as "classic Millhauser," literary critic Earl G. Ingersoll reports that the volume signals an advance over his previous short fiction:

Footnotes

Sources

• Byatt, A. S.. 1998. REPORTS FROM THE EDGE OF REALITY The Washington Post, June 13, 1998. Accessed 23 April 2025.
• Chénetier, Marc. 2001. An Interview with Steven Millhauser '. Accessed 22 April 2025.
• Ingersoll, Earl G. 2014. Understanding Steven Millhauser. University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, SC.
• Kakutani, Michiko. 1998. BOOKS OF THE TIMES: The Great Escape From Reality to Fantasy. The New York Times, May 5, 1998. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/05/03/daily/knife-book-review.html?scp=9&sq=the%2520great%2520escape&st=cse Accesses 22 April 2025.
• Millhauser, Steven. 1998. The Knife Thrower and Other Stories Vintage Books, New York.